L  I  B  R.ARY 

OF  THL 
U  N  IVER5  ITY 
or    ILLl  NOIS 


auMois  mmw.  sww 


0»7 


WILLIAM  McKENDREE 


A  BIOGRAPHICAL 
STUDY 


By  BISHOP  E.  E.  HOSS 


METHODIST  FOUNDERS'  SERIES 


Nashville,  Tenn. 

Dallas,  Tex,;  Richmond,  Va. 

Publishing  House  of  the  M.  E.  Church,  South 

Smith  &  Lamar,  Agents 

1916 


Copyright,  1914 

BY 

Smith  &  Lamar 


'19  \(^ 


INTRODUCTION. 


An  adequate  subject  and  a  capable  and  dedicated 
pen  are  the  necessary  conditions  for  making  a  pur- 
poseful book,  one  that  in  itself  has  power  to  live  and 
accomplish  the  end  of  its  writing.  The  wide  religious 
fellowship  to  which  the  present  volume  is  particularly 
addressed  will,  without  debate,  allow  that  in  it  these 
conditions  have  been  met.  Such  a  presentation  as  it 
makes  of  the  apostolic  career  with  which  it  deals  has 
long  been  a  desideratum  in  the  thought  life  of  the 
Church.  It  will  not  be  denied  that  the  biographical 
studies  of  the  early  leadership  of  Methodism  in  this 
country  have,  until  more  recent  years,  been  found  in 
writings  whose  terms,  while  commendably  sympathetic 
and  true  to  the  vitalities  involved,  are  not  all  that  is 
demanded  by  both  the  religious  and  philosophical  in- 
quisitiveness  of  our  times.  It  is  to  effect  this  new 
setting  of  old  truths  and  to  revive  the  too  plainly 
waning  appreciation  of  heroic  precedents  that  this 
volume  and  others  in  the  series  of  which  it  is  a  unit 
have  been  written.  A  privileged  perusal  of  these 
pages  while  they  were  yet  in  ante-publication  processes 
has  suggested  to  the  writer  of  this  introductory  sketch 
the  possibilities  with  which  they  are  charged. 

Without  so  much  as  touching  upon  the  question  of 
inspiration — a  matter  that  must  remain  inviolate  in  all 
reverent  thinking — the  Book  of  the  Acts  is  properly 
thought  of  in  connection  with  the  authorship  of  St. 
Luke.     While  it  is  impossible  to  imagine  what  the 

(I) 


2  Life  of  William  McKcndree. 

apostolic  story  had  been  coming  from  another  hand 
than  his,  it  is  quite  allowable  and  reverent  to  plus  its 
inspiration  with  the  personality  and  viewpoint  of  its 
author.  The  viewpoint  is,  in  fact,  always  an  integer  of 
first  importance,  for  it  is  the  channel  through  which  tlie 
capabilities  and  fitness  of  the  biographer's  personality 
find  expression.  Changed  conditions  and  the  emer- 
gence of  a  new  historical  viewpoint  have  ripened  the 
conviction  that  our  Methodist  biography  needs  a  new 
and  more  natural  setting.  The  classics  of  personal 
history  which  we  have  so  long  used  and  revered  will 
continue  to  have  their  place  in  our  denominational  bib- 
liography; but  they  must,  more  and  more,  fall  to  the 
exclusive  use  of  students  and  specialists  and  give  place 
in  the  hands  of  the  general  reader  to  fresher  and  apter 
recitals  of  their  narratives. 

These  conclusions  involve  the  doctrine  of  the  con- 
tinued activity  of  individual  life.  The  souls  of  the 
worthies  of  the  past  not  only  continue  to  walk  the 
earth,  but  their  deeds  have  a  continuity  of  force  and 
vitality  which  requires  anew  to  be  made  manifest  and 
anew  declared.  Doctrines  of  essential  belief  and  in- 
stitutions reach  the  point  of  fixity  both  as  to  fact  and 
as  to  the  forms  in  which  they  are  expressed.  But  life 
has  in  it  no  such  finality;  it  is  itself  a  continuous  ex- 
pression of  doctrine  and  institutional  truth.  In  this 
the  life  which  has  entered  into  history  and  that  which 
is  in  the  process  of  living  are  alike.  Biography  has 
this  advantage  over  history,  except  where  history  itself 
is  only  a  species  of  biography. 

The  earlier  history  of  American  Methodism  is  easily 
and  naturally  divisible  into  three  periods,  each  period 


Introduction.  3 

represented  by  a  name  that  must  survive  as  long  as 
the  Wesleyan  movement  has  a  record  or  a  represent- 
ative on  this  continent.  Asbury,  ]^IcKendree,  and 
Soule  are  the  trio  of  mighty  names  in  which  close  the 
details  of  a  record  as  heroic  and  as  potent  for  destiny 
as  any  written  in  the  uninspired  annals  of  the  race. 
It  would  be  a  profitless  task  to  determine  which  of 
these  was  the  greatest  or  which  accomplished  the 
greatest  end  in  his  living.  They  rather  make  a  unity 
in  the  history  which  they  wrought.  The  story  of  one 
cannot  be  told  without  reciting  material  facts  in  the 
lives  of  the  other  two.  Their  services  covered  well 
the  years  of  a  century,  but  the  witness  of  the  first 
overlaps  the  witness  of  the  others  so  as  to  give  a  view 
of  the  three  standing  in  the  same  line  of  vision. 

Providence  fulfilled  itself  and  fulfilled  the  ethnic 
and  spiritual  needs  of  life  on  this  continent  in  the 
selection  of  these  three  men  to  lead  the  fortunes  of  the 
greatest  religious  movement  w^hich  the  continent  has 
known.  The  first,  an  Englishman,  with  the  religious 
prejudice  of  Anglicanism,  was  a  type  of  one  of  the 
dominant  elements  in  early  racial  America;  the  sec- 
ond, a  Virginian,  embodied  the  acquired  instinct  of 
religious  freedom  and  the  political  aspirations  charac- 
teristic of  the  colonists  and  their  offspring;  while  the 
third,  a  New  Englander,  mingled  Puritan  predilections 
with  atavistic  Norman  qualities  and  represented  the 
best-developed  type  of  later  x\merican  life.  Here  was 
the  whole  religious  and  social  life  of  the  continent 
rolled  into  the  three  patriarchs  of  early  Methodism; 
and  these,  in  their  turn,  were  by  Providence  rolled  into 


4  Life  of  WiUiam  McKcndree. 

a  unity  of  thought  and  action  reaching-  through  prac- 
tically a  century  of  time. 

The  privilege  of  treating  at  this  day  of  the  deeds  of 
the  second  of  this  triad  of  early  American  Methodist 
leadership  is  one  to  be  coveted  for  the  reason  that  it 
furnishes  the  vantage  for  a  backward  and  a  forward 
sweep  of  vision.  It  will  be  a  pleasure  to  discover  how 
this  volume  has  improved  its  opportunity.  John  ^lor- 
ley  has,  in  his  life  of  Gladstone,  written  a  philosophical 
history  of  England  in  the  latter  half  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  He  could  not  escape  this  chance,  being  true 
to  his  subject.  The  modern  bishop  of  the  Church,  in 
sketching  the  career  of  his  illustrious  predecessor,  has, 
in  various  connections,  effectively  laid  bare  the  secret 
vitalities  of  that  body  of  constitutional  and  adminis- 
trative life  known  as  historic  ^Methodism.  The  value 
of  this  service  can  be  better  calculated  and  will  be  bet- 
ter understood  after  a  generation  has  tried  the  contents 
of  this  volume. 

The  aim  of  the  present  revival  of  study  in  ^lethodist 
biography  has  been  not  only  to  certainly  find  the 
sources  and  trace  the  course  of  authority  in  our  eccle- 
siasticism,  but  more  particularly  to  find  the  fountains 
and  inspirational  causes  of  that  exceptional  spiritual 
life  which  so  long  characterized  Methodism  and  ef- 
fectively to  commend  it  to  the  generations  of  to-day. 

Personal  experience  has  always  been  the  true  expos- 
itive force  in  the  history  of  religion.  This  force  was 
the  characteristic  manifestation  of  early  ^Methodism, 
which  formulated  no  new  doctrine  and,  at  its  beginning, 
contemplated  no  ecclesiastical  departure.  It  is  always 
to  be  remembered,  too,  that  Methodism  took  its  con- 


Introduction,  5 

fession  out  of  the  body  of  an  older  symbol;  but  it  is 
also  to  be  remembered  that  it  mightily  interpreted  old 
doctrines  and  old  formulas  in  the  lives  and  testimony 
of  its  adherents.  In  this  it  completed  both  the  letter 
and  the  spirit  of  the  Reformation  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  which  was  a  correction  of  doctrine  rather 
than  a  revival  of  spiritual  life.  Justification  by  faith 
as  a  doctrinal  formula  described  the  ultimate  advance 
of  Luther's  teachings,  while  the  witness  of  the  Spirit  as 
a  vital  experience  described  the  goal  of  the  Wesleyan 
revival. 

The  necessity  for  constantly  reverting  to  this  expe- 
rience as  a  precedent  for  all  Christian  living,  and  also 
the  possibility  of  continually  expanding  it  in  the  hope 
of  uncovering  new  incentives  to  seek  it  and  new  ave- 
nues of  approach  to  it,  are  additional  reasons  for  these 
latest  essays  in  Methodist  biography.  The  reader  is 
confidently  advised  that  the  author  of  this  new  biog- 
raphy of  the  first  native  American  bishop  has  not 
failed  to  cultivate  this  possibility. 

A  new  and  valid  reason  for  the  present  writing  Is 
the  relation  of  the  subject  to  the  past  fortunes  and 
future  hopes  of  that  branch  of  Methodism  whose  hab- 
itat is  in  the  lands  so  industriously  cultivated  by  this 
first  American  patriarch;  and,  indeed,  the  other  two 
mighty  ones  referred  to  are  not  less  legitimately 
claimed  in  this  relationship.  Not  only  Is  the  earliest 
spring  of  historic  Methodism  traceable  to  these  zones, 
but  here,  and  under  the  superintendency  of  these  men, 
were  its  earliest  victories  planned  and  achieved.  The 
time  has  come,  therefore,  to  set  all  these  things  in  the 
light  of  a  narrative  which  shall  be  both  unequivocal  as 


6  Life  of  William  McKcndree. 

to  these  claims  and  also  just  and  discriminating  in 
favor  of  other  relationships  in  the  wider  house  of 
Methodism.  In  a  word,  this  new  series  of  biographies 
especially  seeks  to  present  a  catholic  story  of  the  days 
of  genesis  and  heroism,  one  that  shall  live  on  and, 
while  teaching  the  equities  of  history,  shall  minister  to 
its  unities  in  a  future  of  possibilities  already  at  our 
door.  It  is  not  to  acquit  myself  of  a  service  of  friend- 
ship nor  to  discharge  a  conventional  office,  but  rather 
to  speak  out  of  the  fullness  of  appreciation  and  as  the 
result  of  critical  measurement,  that  I  ascribe  to  this 
volume  the  quality  of  justness,  discrimination,  and 
catholicit}*  in  all  these  matters.  I  count  it  a  great 
happiness  to  have  been  accorded  the  privilege  of  in- 
diting this  foreword  and  of  commending  this  volume 
to  the  perusal  and  study  of  all  our  people. 

Horace  M.  Du  Bose. 
Atlanta,  G.\-,  July  20,  19 14, 


CONTENTS. 

Chapter  I.                                  pagk. 
Parentage,  Birth,  and  Early  Life 9 

Chapter  II. 
Genesis  of  Religious  Experience l^ 

Chapter  III. 
Call  to  the  Ministry 33 

Chapter  IV. 
Four  Years  a  Circuit  Preacher 39 

Chapter  V. 
Four  Years  More  on  the  Circuit,  with  an  Episode 48 

Chapter  VI. 
First  Five  Years  in  the  Presiding  Eldership 66 

Chapter  VII. 
Set  over  the  Forces  in  the  Great  West 73 

Chapter  VIII. 
Taking  a  Fresh  Start  in  Kentucky 88 

Chapter  IX. 
Elected  to  the  Episcopacy 106 

Chapter  X. 

First  Quadrennium  in  the  Episcopacy 120 

(7) 


.8  Life  of  William  McKendree. 

Chapter  XI.                                  Pagb. 
At  His  First  General  Conference  as  a  Bishop 139 

Chapter  XII. 
In  Full  Swing I49 

Chapter  XIII. 
Senior  Bishop  of  the  Church 161 

Chapter  XIV. 
Defending  the  Constitution I73 

Chapter  XV. 
Nearing  Port. I97 


LIFE  OF  WILLIAM  McKENDREE. 


CHAPTER  I. 
Parentage,  Birth,  and  Early  Life. 

William  McKendree,  the  first  native  American 
bishop  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  was  born 
in  King  WilUam  County,  Va.,  forty  miles  northeast 
of  the  city  of  Richmond,  July  6,  1757.  He  was  the 
eldest  of  the  eight  children  of  John  and  Mary  Mc- 
Kendree,  an  intelligent,  self-respecting,  and  God- 
fearing couple,  who  belonged  to  what  is  sometimes 
condescendingly  called  "the  middle  class  of  Virgin- 
ians." If  anything  at  all  has  been  preserved  concern- 
ing his  remoter  progenitors^  it  has  wholly  escaped  my 
research.  The  family  name,  however,  shows  that  they 
were  of  Scotch  origin,  though,  as  was  the  case  with 
thousands  of  others  of  the  same  blood,  they  probably 
reached  America  by  way  of  the  north  of  Ireland. 
These  transplanted  Scotchmen  are  a  masterful  race. 
Wherever  they  have  gone  they  have  left  an  Indelible 
mark.  What  they  have  contributed  to  the  life  and 
growth  of  the  United  States  in  particular  can  scarcely 
be  overestimated. 

John  McKendree  does  not  appear  to  have  been,  ex- 
cept in  the  matter  of  his  moral  and  religious  probity, 
a  very  uncommon  man.  He  was  one  of  the  undistin- 
guished multitude  of  faithful  souls  whose  names, 
though  not  known  In  the  earth,  are  written  In  heaven. 
By  vocation  he  was  a  planter,  owning  his  own  lands 

(9) 


10  Life  of  William  McKendree. 

and  a  few  domestic  servants,  and  making  always  a 
comfortable  subsistence;  but  never  accumulating  any 
considerable  fortune,  nor  achieving  social  or  political 
eminence.  Bishop  Paine  describes  him  as  follows: 
''With  strong  domestic  aflfections,  and  without  any  de- 
sire for  notoriety,  he  led  a  humble,  industrious,  and  re- 
ligious life."  Removing  in  1764  to  James  City  County, 
and  again  in  1770  to  Greenville  County,  he  finally,  in 
1810,  migrated  with  his  youngest  son,  Dr.  James  Mc- 
Kendree, and  three  other  of  his  children  to  Sumner 
County,  in  the  then  young  State  of  Tennessee.  From 
this  last  of  his  earthly  homes,  which  was  the  free  gift 
of  the  generous  and  large-hearted  Rev.  James  Gwin — 
a  good  farm  of  three  hundred  acres — he  passed  to  his 
heavenly  home  on  his  eighty-eighth  birthday,  October, 
1810. 

[Mary  McKendree,  whose  maiden  name,  strangely 
enough,  is  not  known,  was  a  woman  of  great  strength 
and  gentleness  of  character.  In  every  respect  she  was 
fit:  to  be  the  mother  of  her  famous  son.  Becoming  an 
invalid  in  1769,  she  was  confined  to  her  room  till  her 
death,  twenty  years  later.  But  even  under  so  great  a 
disability  she  continued  the  wise  management  of  her 
household  affairs  and  looked  well  to  the  rearing  of  her 
children.  The  exquisite  sweetness  of  her  temper,  to 
which  there  is  abundant  testimony,  left  an  impression 
on  their  minds  which  neither  time  nor  change  could 
ever  obliterate. 

Speaking  of  the  McKendrees  in  general.  Bishop 
Paine  says  that  one  of  their  most  marked  characteris- 
tics was  their  strong  family  love.  In  the  course  of 
years  they  became  widely  scattered  in  Virginia,  Ten- 


Parentage,  Birth,  and  Early  Life,  il 

nessee,  Alabama,  and  South  Carolina;  but  they  never 
lost  their  intense  affection  for  one  another.  Bishop 
Asbury  in  a  notable  passage  in  his  Journal  tells  how 
he  and  Bishop  McKendree  once  became  the  guests  of 
the  latter's  younger  brother,  Thomas,  in  South  Caro- 
lina, and  dwells  on  the  glad  welcome  and  ''the  noble 
feast"  which  they  received. 

The  life  of  an  average  Virginia  family  In  the  days 
of  which  I  write  was  rather  colorless  and  uneventful. 
More  than  a  hundred  and  fifty  years  had  elapsed  since 
the  first  English  settlers  came  to  Jamestown.  Pioneer 
conditions  had  largely  passed  away.  Except  on  the 
Western  frontiers,  toward  the  Blue  Ridge  and  the 
Alleghanies,  Indian  wars,  with  their  excitements,  were 
things  of  the  past,  though  as  late  as  1770  Lord  Dun- 
more  sent  his  famous  expedition  under  Andrew  Lewis 
to  Point  Pleasant,  on  the  Ohio  River.  Society,  for  the 
most  part,  had  settled  down  to  an  easy  and  common- 
place way  of  getting  on.  There  were  only  a  few 
towns,  and  they  were  small  and  insignificant.  The 
great  majority  of  the  white  people  resided  on  their 
own  farms  and  tilled  the  fields  with  their  own  hands. 
Negro  slavery  had  become  a  fixed  institution,  but  had 
taken  on  a  gentler  form  than  anywhere  else  in  the 
world.  Not  one-fourth  of  the  people  were  slave- 
holders. If  riches  did  not  abound,  poverty  was  like- 
wise rare. 

There  was  much  good  social  fellowship,  which  was 
always  accompanied  by  an  abundance  of  eating  and 
often  by  entirely  too  much  drinking.  The  word 
"neighbors"  meant  all  those  living  in  a  day's  horse- 
back ride  of  one  another.    They  were  much  given  to 


12  Life  of  William  McKendree. 

the  interchange  of  hospitahties.  It  was  customary  to 
keep  open  house  both  for  friends  and  for  strangers. 
Nobody  but  a  churl  turned  a  visitor  away  from  his 
door.  A  traveler  of  decent  appearance  might  pass  from 
one  side  of  the  colony  to  the  other  and  scarcely  be 
taxed  for  a  night's  lodging. 

Here  and  there  lines  of  social  cleavage  were  more 
or  less  distinctly  drawn.  In  the  Tidewater  region  es- 
pecially and  along  the  Upper  A'alley  of  the  James  a  few 
great  families,  nearly  all  of  which  had  crossed  the 
ocean  during  Cromw^ell's  time,  exercised  a  sort  of 
natural  sway  over  their  several  communities.  But  in 
spite  of  all  that  has  been  said  about  the  dominancy  of 
these  Cavaliers,  the  fact  is  that  in  the  body  and  bulk  of 
her  citizenship  and  in  the  great  currents  of  her  life 
\^irginia  was  and  has  always  remained  essentially 
democratic.  The  most  of  the  men  who  followed  George 
Washington  and  the  most  of  those  who  followed 
Robert  E.  Lee  were  what  in  England  would  have  been 
called  yeomen.  It  is  important  to  bear  this  in  mind,  as 
the  contrary  impression  has  been  made  by  many 
writers,  from  one  of  whom  I  shall  presently  quote. 

Educational  opportunities  in  \^irginia,  except  for 
the  wealthy,  were  not  good.  In  all  America  there 
were  only  three  or  four  colleges,  and  in  \'irginia  only 
one.  Even  ordinary  schools  were  few  and  generally 
of  inferior  quality.  Those  who  could  aflford  it  usually 
employed  private  tutors  for  their  sons  out  of  England. 
Mr.  Dempster  and  Parson  Ward,  of  Thackeray's  great 
novel,  are  types  each  of  a  large  class.  Many  young 
men  besides  Henry  and  George  Warrington  were  sent 
across  the  sea  to  finish  their  studies  and  polish  their 


Parentage,  Birth,  and  Early  Life.  13 

manners.  Let  us  hope  that  the  most  of  them  fell  into 
better  company  than  those  two  brothers  encountered. 
While  many  good  private  libraries  could  be  found  in 
the  homes  of  the  richer  folk,  it  must  be  confessed  that 
books  were  inaccessible  to  the  masses.  Of  newspapers, 
which  are  now  regarded  as  indispensable  vehicles  for 
the  dissemination  of  intelligence,  there  were  none  at 
all;  but  of  oral  discussion,  both  in  private  circles  and 
in  public  places,  there  was  a  great  deal,  and  it  wrought 
largely  on  the  public  mind. 

Even  George  Washington  grew  up  with  a  limited 
range  of  book  knowledge;  and  it  is  not  strange  that 
William  McKendree  should  have  acquired  still  less. 
To  the  end  of  his  life,  though  he  learned  to  speak  his 
mother  tongue  w4th  precision  and  force,  he  would  no 
doubt  have  been  bothered  by  an  examination  in  gram- 
mar, and  he  often  took  uncommon  liberties  with  Eng- 
lish orthography.  Who  his  teachers  were,  we  are  no- 
where told.  One  of  them  is  handed  down  to  us  anony- 
mously as  "a  vain  man,"  not  much  better,  probably, 
than  an  Irish  hedge-master.  Seventy-five  years  ago 
there  was  a  tradition  still  floating  through  the  Church 
to  the  effect  that  McKendree  was  a  dull,  slow  boy' ;  but 
his  best  biographer  discredits  it,  and  says :  "While  it 
may  have  comforted  many  a  lazy  and  unpopular  young 
preacher,  it  was  probably  without  foundation  in  fact." 

When  McKendree  was  born,  the  first  breath  of  dis- 
content with  the  colonial  policies  of  Great  Britain  had 
scarcely  passed  over  the  land.  The  most  of  the  Vir- 
ginia people  still  cherished  a  loving  reverence  for  old 
England,  called  it  "home,"  and  gloried  greatly  in  the 
fact  that  they  themselves  were  men  of  English  speech 


14  ^ifc  of  II' ill ia in  McKciidrcc. 

and  blood.  In  all  his  wide  domain  King  George  had 
no  more  loyal  subjects  than  they.  Any  slightest  sug- 
gestion of  rebellion  or  revolution  would  have  been 
cried  down  by  them  as  a  piece  of  treasonable  folly. 
Lut  events  were  shaping  themselves  beyond  the  knowl- 
edge or  will  of  men.  There  is  an  element  in  the  growth 
of  nations  that  operates  as  inevitably,  yet  often  as  in- 
visibly, as  gravitation — the  element  of  Divine  purpose. 
In  her  season  of  apparent  repose  and  inactivity  Vir- 
ginia was  quietly  nursing  the  strength  which  she  would 
sorely  need  in  the  coming  contest  for  freedom,  a  con- 
test in  which  she  bore  so  conspicuous  and  glorious  a 
part. 

It  is  a  little  off  the  track  of  my  theme,  but  I  cannot 
forbear  to  reproduce  here  from  Senator  Cabot  Lodge's 
*'Life  of  Washington"  a  passage  which,  barring  the 
undue  emphasis  put  on  the  aristocratic  spirit  of  the 
colony,  is  both  true  and  illuminating:  ''There  was 
nothing  languishing  or  effeminate  about  the  \"irginia 
planter.  He  was  a  robust  man,  quite  ready  to  fight  or 
to  work  when  the  time  came,  and  well  fitted  to  deal 
w'ith  affairs  when  he  was  needed.  He  was  a  free- 
handed, hospitable,  generous  being,  not  much  given 
to  study  or  thought,  but  thoroughly  public-spirited 
and  keenly  alive  to  the  interests  of  Virginia.  Above 
all  things  else,  he  was  an  aristocrat  set  apart  by  the 
dark  line  of  race,  color,  and  hereditary  servitude,  as 
proud  as  the  proudest  Austrian  with  his  endless  quar- 
terings,  as  sturdy  and  vigorous  as  an  English  yeo- 
man, and  as  jealous  of  his  rights  and  privileges  as  any 
baron  who  stood  by  John  at  Runnymede.  To  this 
aristocracy,    careless    and    indolent,    given    to    rough 


Parentage,  Birth^  and  Early  Life.  15 

pleasures,  and  indifferent  to  the  finer  and  higher  sides 
of  Hfe,  the  call  came,  as  it  comes  to  all  men  sooner  or 
later ;  and  in  response  they  gave  their  country  soldiers, 
statesmen,  and  jurists  of  the  highest  order  and  fit  for 
the  great  work  they  were  asjced  to  do.  We  must  go 
back  to  Athens  to  find  another  instance  of  a  society 
so  small  in  numbers  and  yet  capable  of  such  an  out- 
burst of  ability  and  force.  They  were  of  sound  Eng- 
lish stock  with  a  slight  admixture  of  Huguenot,  the 
best  blood  of  France ;  and  although  for  a  centurs^  and 
a  half  they  had  seemed  to  stagnate  in  the  New  World, 
they  were  strong  and  faithful  and  effective  beyond  the 
measure  of  ordinary  races  when  the  hour  of  peril  and 
trial  was  at  hand." 

It  was  such  a  civilization  as  this,  speaking  generally, 
that  constituted  the  background  of  McKendree's  life. 
In  all  that  the  word  can  mean,  he  was  a  true  Virginian, 
though  he  never  paraded  the  fact.  Before  he  had  quite 
passed  his  eighteenth  year,  the  War  of  the  Revolution 
broke  out.  In  less  than  a  generation  Virginia  had  en- 
tirely changed  front.  In  spite  of  her  ancient  loyalty 
she  was  the  first  of  all  the  colonies,  in  the  "Resolves" 
proposed  by  Patrick  Henry  in  1765,  to  proclaim  un- 
dying resistance  to  the  unjust  exactions  of  the  British 
Crown  and  Parliament;  and  she  now  threw  herself 
with  the  greatest  spirit  into  the  armed  conflict,  rejoic- 
ing that  the  supreme  leadership  in  this  great  emergency 
had  been  bestowed  upon  her  favorite  son. 

Before  the  war  ended,  McKendree  joined  the  army. 

The  exact  date  of  his  enlistment  is  in  doubt;  but  the 

fact  is  beyond  dispute  that  he  rose  to  the  rank  of 

adjutant,  and  was  present  in  that  capacitv  when  Corn- 
2 


l6  Life  of  William  McKendrce. 

wallis  surrendered  at  Yorktown,  being  then  twenty- 
four  years  of  age.  The  probabihties  are  that  he  saw, 
all  told,  about  two  or  three  years'  service.  The  experi- 
ence that  he  thus  acquired  in  dealing  with  men  proved 
of  large  value  to  him  in  coming  years.  To  the  end  of 
his  life  there  was  something  of  the  soldier  and  the  com- 
mander in  his  character.  He  was  in  his  prime  the 
captain  of  the  itinerant  hosts,  and  rode  at  the  front  as 
one  not  unused  to  such  a  place.  But  it  was  only  on 
the  rarest  occasions,  and  then  with  great  modesty,  that 
he  ever  referred  to  his  military  career.  Nor  did  he 
even  in  extreme  old  age  apply  for  a  pension.  He  was 
incapable  of  putting  a  market  value  on  his  patriotism. 
Bishop  Robert  Paine,  who  was  on  terms  of  the  closest 
intimacy  with  him  for  many  years,  acting  as  his  aman- 
uensis, traveling  thousands  of  miles  in  his  company, 
and  passing  over  many  of  the  Revolutionary  battle 
fields,  says  that  he  never  once  heard  him  allude  to  his 
own  part  in  the  struggle:  "In  him  the  soldier  of  civil 
liberty  was  merged  into  the  nobler  character  of  a  true 
and  valiant  soldier  of  the  Cross.  Having  done  his  duty 
to  his  country  in  an  emergency,  he  was  contented,  and 
never  boasted  of  the  fact."  Still,  it  is  a  matter  of  rec- 
ord that  when  on  a  certain  occasion  in  1807  a  company 
of  roughs,  led  by  a  Major  Somebody,  undertook  to 
break  up  one  of  his  camp  meetings  on  the  frontier  of 
Illinois,  he  announced  from  the  pulpit  that  he  and  some 
of  his  companions  had  fought  for  their  country  and 
could  not  be  intimidated  or  overawed  by  a  show  of  vio- 
lence. The  hint  proved  effective,  and  the  roughs  re- 
tired. 


CHAPTER  II. 
Genesis  of  Religious  Experience. 

It  is  proper  to  say  here  what  ought  perhaps  to  have 
been  said  before,  that  the  state  of  rehgion  in  Virginia 
during  and  immediately  after  the  Revolutionary  War 
was  exceedingly  low.  The  Church  of  England,  it  is 
true,  had  been  from  the  beginning  established  by  law, 
but  it  had  never  been  profoundly  loved  by  the  people 
as  a  whole.  In  its  most  prosperous  estate  it  had  ninety- 
six  parishes  served  by  ninety-three  ministers.  By  a 
policy  which  seems  strange  indeed,  and  which  would 
not  now  be  possible,  it  had  never  had  a  resident  bishop. 
The  Bishop  of  London,  to  whose  diocese  the  colony 
belonged,  and  who  exercised  a  sort  of  absent  juris- 
diction, was  represented  on  the  ground  by  a  com- 
missary. For  fifty  years  the  Rev.  Dr.  John  Blair,  a 
Scotchman  of  ability  and  character,  to  whom  Virginia 
owes  a  greater  debt  than  she  can  ever  pay,  had  filled 
that  sub-Episcopal  post.  However  it  may  be  with 
Churches  that  hold  to  a  non-Episcopal  form  of  govern- 
ment, it  is  at  least  true  that  an  Episcopal  Church  with- 
out a  bishop  in  presence  and  authority  is  something  of 
an  anomaly  and  cannot  develop  in  an  orderly  and 
healthy  fashion. 

When  the  fighting  began,  in  1776,  a  great  many  of 
the  clergy  forsook  their  flocks  and  fled  to  England. 
It  is  not  at  all  uncharitable  to  say  that,  as  far  as  the 
most  of  them  were  concerned,  their  room  was  better 
than  their  companv.    Their  departure  was,  at  anv  rate, 

(17)' 


1 8  Life  of  William  McKendrcc. 

no  great  loss  to  the  cause  of  good  religion  or  good 
citizenship.  Leaving  out  exceptional  cases,  they  were, 
both  in  the  matter  of  character  and  in  the  matter  of 
competency,  far  from  measuring  up  to  any  proper 
standard,  and  would  not  be  tolerated  to-day  in  any 
Church  in  America.  The  Episcopal  Church  in  \'ir- 
ginia  would  now  exclude  them  without  a  moment's 
hesitation.  Not  a  few  of  them  were  given  to  drinking, 
gambling,  cock-fighting,  horse-racing,  and  many  other 
such  improprieties.  Not  many  of  them  showed  any 
deep  sense  of  concern  for  the  honor  of  their  office  or 
for  the  souls  of  their  flocks.  With  such  ministers  it 
was  certain  that  the  laity  would  not  furnish  many 
shining  illustrations  of  the  graces  of  Christianity.  Dr. 
Hawks,  the  historian  of  the  Church,  says  that  ^'between 
the  two  classes  there  was  a  mutual  action  and  reaction 
of  evil ;  each  probably  contributed  to  make  the  other 


worse." 


About  the  only  thing  in  regard  to  which  these  lead- 
ers in  Israel  showed  any  great  activity  was  in  seeking 
to  repress  all  forms  of  dissent.  Though  not  quite  so 
bad  in  this  respect  as  the  New  England  Puritans,  they 
were  still  bad  enough  in  all  conscience.  The  testimony 
of  Dr.  Hawks  is  as  explicit  as  words  could  make 
it,  and  it  is  fully  confirmed  by  many  good  authorities. 
Parsons  whose  daily  lives  were  a  shame  and  a  scandal 
poured  out  the  full  measure  of  ecclesiastical  censure 
and  wrath  upon  Quakers,  Presbyterians,  and  Baptists 
who  were  guilty  of  no  offense  except  that  they  would 
not  conform  to  the  usages  of  the  Church  of  England. 
These  good  people  were  dragged  before  petty  magis- 
trates,  insulted,   fined,  beaten,  and   imprisoned.     The 


Genesis  of  Religious  Experience.  19 

Baptists,  who  made  their  first  appearance  in  the  colony 
as  early  as  1714  and  became  very  active  after  1740, 
bore  the  brunt  of  the  persecution,  and  stood  stead- 
fast as  good  soldiers  of  Jesus  Christ.  Nothing  re- 
strained such  acts  of  violence  as  those  just  mentioned 
except  a  growing  public  opinion  against  them.  It  is 
not  strange  that  the  successors  and  descendants  of 
those  courageous  early  Baptists  have  carefully  pre- 
served the  keys  and  bolts  of  the  jails  in  which  so  many 
noble  men  were  confined  and  from  the  grated  windows 
of  which  they  preached  to  the  curious  multitudes  that 
thronged  upon  the  outside.  "Soul  liberty"  is  a  great 
inheritance,  especially  when  purchased  at  the  cost  of 
suffering  and  shame  on  the  part  of  one's  ancestors.  To 
any  one  that  knows  the  historic  traits  of  the  Presby- 
terians, who  also  began  their  work  about  1740,  it  is 
hardly  necessary  to  say  that  they  too  stood  their 
ground. 

In  a  letter  written  in  1764  James  Madison,  then  a 
youth  of  fine  intelligence  and  aspiring  spirit,  says: 
"Pride,  ignorance,  and  knavery  prevail  among  the 
priesthood,  and  vice  and  wickedness  among  the  laity. 
This  is  bad  enough,  but  it  is  not  the  worst  I  have  to 
tell  you.  That  diabolical,  hell-conceived  principle  of 
persecution  rages  among  some ;  and  to  their  eternal  in- 
famy the  clergy  furnish  their  full  quota  of  imps  for 
such  purposes.  There  are  at  this  time  in  the  adjacent 
county  five  or  six  well-meaning  men  in  close  jail  for 
publishing  their  religious  sentiments,  which  in  the  main 
are  very  orthodox."  One  of  the  three  things  that 
Thomas  Jefiferson  ordered  to  be  carved  on  his  tomb- 
stone was  the  fact  that  Virginia  in   1785,  under  his 


20  Life  of  William  McKendree, 

leadership,  enacted  a  statute  for  religious  freedom.  On 
such  an  achievement  he  had  full  right  to  congratulate 
himself.  Massachusetts  did  not  take  the  same  step  till 
far  along  in  the  nineteenth  century. 

But  there  is  another  side  to  this  dismal  picture.  The 
Church  was  not  wholly  nor  irreclaimably  bad.  It  never 
is  so.  All  sweeping  criticisms  must  be  taken,  there- 
fore, with  a  large  grain  of  salt.  There  is  a  fine  pas- 
sage in  Isaac  Taylor's  "Xilus"  which  is  pertinent  in 
this  connection :  "Dark  ages  or  bright  ages,  and 
through  times  of  sluggish  movement,  and  through 
times  of  progress  and  energy-,  and  while  the  visible 
course  of  the  world's  affairs  is  prosperous,  and  while 
it  is  tempestuous,  and  let  Church  historians  make  a 
good  report  or  let  them  make  an  ill  report  of  a  cen- 
tury, still  it  is  always  true  that  a  host  of  souls  unre- 
ported of  in  any  chronicle  or  census,  even  a  great  mul- 
titude of  human  spirits,  is  in  training  for  their  places 
in  a  kingdom  that  is  not  of  this  world.''  Men  like 
Devereaux  Jarratt  and  Archibald  ^IcRoberts  in  the 
pulpit,  though  few  in  number,  were  a  sign  of  remain- 
ing vitality  in  the  Establishment.  In  the  dissenting 
bodies,  moreover,  which  by  the  close  of  the  Revolution 
embraced  more  than  half  the  people,  there  were  many 
faithful  ministers  and  more  than  seven  thousand  lay- 
men who  had  not  bowed  the  knee  to  Baal.  Here  and 
there  in  every  part  of  the  colony  humble  homes  could 
be  found  in  which  the  light  of  true  piety  continued  to 
shine.  The  ^IcKendrees  were  no  doubt  included  in 
this  class.  They  were  communicants  in  the  Established 
Church  and  attended  regularly  on  its  ordinances.  All 
the  indications  are  that  their  lives  were  pure  and  whole- 


Genesis  of  Religious  Experience.  21 

some.  The  parents  were  of  exemplary  morality,  and 
the  children  escaped  contamination  from  the  evil  in- 
fluences by  which  they  were  surrounded.  Such  a 
family  is  a  sort  of  saving  salt  anywhere.  A  few  such 
would  have  saved  even  Sodom. 

In  the  meantime  a  new  force  was  entering  the  colony. 
The  Methodist  movement,  which  began  to  take  on  an 
organized  form  in  England  in  1739,  had  now  crossed 
the  Atlantic,  eager  for  new  conquests  in  the  Western 
world.  As  early  as  1766  it  had  planted  itself,  through 
the  instrumentality  of  Philip  Embury  and  some  other 
humble  folk  of  Irish  birth  but  German  ancestry,  in  the 
city  of  New  York,  and  probably  a  little  earlier  by  the 
enterprise  and  zeal  of  Robert  Strawbridge,  an  un- 
mixed Irishman,  in  the  colony  of  Maryland.  The  first 
itinerant  Methodist  to  enter  Virginia  was  likewise  from 
the  Emerald  Isle,  though  born  in  England.  His  name 
was  Robert  Williams,  and  he  appeared  in  1772.  Bishop 
McTyeire  says  that  "he  had  not  an  embarrassingly  high 
respect  for  the  Church  and  clergy,"  and  seems  to  have 
thought  none  the  less  of  him  for  the  fact.  But  Wesley 
was  a  little  bit  afraid  of  his  hard-headedness,  and  As- 
bury  never  quite  recognized  his  full  worth.  He  labored 
only  three  years  in  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Baltimore, 
and  Virginia  before  being  overtaken  by  death,  in  1775. 
But  In  that  brief  period  he  laid  Indestructible  founda- 
tions. When  he  passed  on,  he  left  an  organized 
Church  behind  him  in  the  last-mentioned  field.  A 
sentence  from  Bishop  McTyeire  may  well  be  repro- 
duced at  this  point :  "When  the  undiscovered  grave  Is 
found  In  which  Robert  Williams  sleeps,  no  monument 
that  can  be  raised  over  it  will  be  too  high  or  too  hon- 


22  Life  of  William  McKendree, 

orable."  Surely  all  will  agree  that  this  judgment  is 
just.  Blessed  is  the  man  that  is  first  in  a  great  enter- 
prise. 

Jesse  Lee,  who  knew  much  of  the  early  history  of 
Methodism  at  first  hand  and  still  more  from  trust- 
worthy witnesses,  describes  the  man  and  his  preaching 
as  follows :  *'His  manner  of  preaching  was  well  cal- 
culated to  awaken  sinners  and  to  encourage  penitent 
mourners.  He  spared  no  pains  to  do  good.  He  fre- 
quently went  to  church  to  hear  the  Established  clergy, 
and  as  soon  as  divine  service  was  ended  he  would  go 
out  of  the  church  and,  standing  on  a  stump,  block,  or 
log,  begin  to  sing,  pray,  and  then  preach  to  the  people. 
It  was  common  with  him  after  preaching  to  ask  most 
of  the  people  about  the  welfare  of  their  souls."  He 
was  not  tied  to  any  method,  but  dealt  with  every  situa- 
tion as  circumstances  seemed  to  demand. 

A  start  once  made,  Methodism  throve  wonderfully 
in  that  quarter,  as  it  has  continued  to  do  till  the  pres- 
ent day.  At  the  Conference  which  met  in  Philadelphia 
in  1773  Williams  was  able  to  report  a  membership  of 
one  hundred.  He  was  followed  later  by  John  King, 
George  Shad  ford,  Francis  Asbury,  and  others  of 
like  spirit.  The  movement  probably  reached  the 
McKendrees  in  about  1775  or  1776.  They  appear  to 
have  given  it  a  prompt  and  hearty  adhesion  and  were 
afterwards,  therefore,  included  in  that  class  which 
came  to  be  known  in  the  State  as  "old  Methodists." 
The  new  experience  that  it  brought  them  of  the  saving 
power  of  Christ  made  an  epoch  in  their  history. 
Thenceforward  the  service  of  God  was  their  chief  con- 
cern, a  living  and  inexhaustible  spring  of  blessedness 


Genesis  of  Religious  Experience.  23 

and  joy.  They  had  been  decent  and  upright  folk  all 
their  lives.  Now  they  became  vital  and  active  Chris- 
tians. Without  at  all  losing  the  respectful  regard 
which  they  had  cherished  for  the  Episcopal  Church, 
they  at  once  enrolled  themselves  in  a  Methodist  class 
and  became  gladly  subject  to  the  whole  Methodist  dis- 
cipline. In  due  time  all  the  children  followed  the  ex- 
ample of  their  parents  and  made  an  open  profession  of 
faith  in  Christ. 

That  William  should  be  moved  with  the  rest  was  in- 
evitable. He  had  what  Tertullian  called  the  animiim 
naturaliter  Christianum,  the  instinctively  Christian 
temperament.  Even  as  a  child,  and  without  any  very 
definite  instruction,  he  had  entertained  very  grave 
thoughts  about  God.  In  a  letter  written  to  Bishop 
Asbury  in  1803  he  mentions  it  as  a  cause  for  grati- 
tude that  he  had  always  been  kept  free  from  gross 
immoralities  and  had  sworn  but  one  oath.  The 
Bible  stories  greatly  stirred  his  childish  heart  and 
awoke  in  him  the  desire  to  love  and  please  God.  At 
that  time  he  was  not  far  from  the  kingdom,  and  needed 
only  proper  guidance  to  bring  him  into  it.  Unfortu- 
nately, however,  not  even  his  parents  fully  realized 
what  was  going  on  within  him ;  and  even  had  they  done 
so,  they  were  scarcely  prepared  to  deal  wisely  with  his 
peculiar  difficulties.  The  letter  to  which  I  have  just 
referred  contains  the  following  paragraph:  "1  would 
frequently  seek  solitary  places  in  the  woods,  there  fall 
upon  my  face,  and  weep  freely  while  I  thought  I  was 
talking  to  Jehovah.  This  practice  I  followed  till  I  be- 
came so  serious  that  I  was  taken  note  of.  The  school- 
master,  who   was   a   vain   man   and  boarded   at   my 


24  Life  of  William  McKendree. 

father's,  began  to  laugh  at  me  and  to  make  remarks, 
and  finally  laughed  me  out  of  all  my  seriousness.  I 
then  heedlessly  pursued  the  pleasures  of  the  world, 
and  do  not  remember  to  have  had  any  more  such  im- 
pressions for  several  years."  When  will  the  Christian 
world  fully  learn  that  childhood  belongs  to  Christ  ? 

But  when  the  Methodist  revival  broke  out  in  the 
community,  being  then  about  eighteen  or  nineteen  years 
of  age,  he  experienced  a  resurgence  in  full  force  of 
his  early  religious  feelings.  His  heart,  long  cold 
toward  God,  was  again  mightily  warmed.  Many 
around  received  the  gift  of  conscious  pardon  and  son- 
ship,  among  them,  as  already  said,  several  members  of 
his  own  family.  But  he  for  some  reason  fell  short  of 
that  satisfying  attainment.  In  spite  of  this  fact  he  re- 
solved to  lead  a  new  life,  and  united  himself  with  a 
class  on  probation  as  "a  seeker."  After  some  time  he 
halted  by  the  way  and  failed  to  obtain  the  prize.  His 
own  explanation  of  it  is  that  he  found  it  difficult  to 
break  with  his  companions,  who  did  not  share  his  re- 
ligious desires.  "Their  conduct,"  he  says,  "being  con- 
formed to  my  reformed  manners,  I  continued  to  enjoy 
the  friendship  both  of  the  society  and  of  the  world, 
but  in  a  very  imperfect  degree.  They  continued  to 
counteract  and  impair  each  other  until  the  love  of  the 
world  prevailed,  and  my  relish  for  genuine  piety  de- 
parted. I  peacefully  retired  from  the  society,  while 
my  conduct  continued  to  secure  their  friendship." 

This,  however,  was  not  the  end.  He  could  not 
easily  shake  off  the  convictions  that  had  found  a  lodg- 
ment in  his  soul.  The  more  he  thought  himself  rid  of 
them,  the  more  they  rose  up  to  disturb  and  distress 


Genesis  of  Religious  Experience.  25 

him.  In  the  good  providence  of  God  he  again  fell 
desperately  sick  and  came  to  what  he  thought  was  the 
door  of  death.  '*I  utterly  despaired  of  mercy,"  he 
says,  ''unless  God  should  be  graciously  pleased  to  raise 
me  up  from  my  bed  of  affliction,  and  thus  grant  me  an 
opportunity  to  see  his  face.  For  this  I  earnestly 
prayed.  But  even  while  it  seemed  to  myself  that  I  was 
so  willing  to  embrace  mercy  on  any  terms,  I  well  re- 
member a  thought  that  threw  me  into  confusion  by 
showing  me  my  error.  The  following  question  was  sug- 
gested: 'If  the  Lord  would  raise  you  up  and  convert 
your  soul,  would  you  be  willing  to  go  and  preach  the 
gospel  ?' "  Though  mercifully  brought  back  to  life 
and  strength,  he  failed  to  make  the  full  surrender,  and 
went  away  from  Christ,  as  did  the  rich  young  man  in 
the  gospel.  "At  last,"  he  adds,  "I  lost  the  desire  and 
returned  to  my  old  companions  and  the  business  of  the 
world." 

In  the  meantime  his  service  in  the  army  intervened. 
Everybody  knows  that  a  military  camp  is  no  good 
place  for  beginning  or  maintaining  a  Christian  life. 
There  have  been,  it  is  true,  many  exceptions  to  the 
general  rule,  but  they  do  not  break  the  force  of  the 
rule  itself.  War  is  in  most  cases  terribly  demoralizing. 
McKendree  was  fortunate  in  not  losing  his  sound 
moral  character  while  serving  his  country.  Of  this 
fact  there  Is  the  best  of  evidence.  But  he  certainly 
did  lose  a  large  part  of  his  religious  sensitiveness  and 
his  openness  to  the  influence  of  the  Spirit  of  God. 

These  apparently  false  and  indecisive  starts.  If  taken 
by  themselves,  would  seem  to  argue  a  good  deal  of 
natural  fickleness  of  will  on  the  part  of  young  Mc- 


26  Life  of  IVilliam  McKendrcc. 

Kendrcc.  Yet  we  must  not  judge  too  hastily  or  con- 
fidently. Only  God  knows  what  goes  on  in  the  depths 
of  the  human  spirit.  We  read  that  many  of  the 
strongest  and  steadiest  Christians  in  history  took  their 
first  steps  as  the  Lord's  disciples  in  the  same  halting  and 
hesitating  fashion,  and  were  long  in  reaching  the  point 
of  a  complete  and  irrevocable  commitment  to  Christ. 
The  time  was  coming,  though  he  himself  knew  it  not, 
when  ^IcKendree  would  parley  no  more,  but  surrender 
at  discretion.  When  it  did  come,  nothing  could  sur- 
pass the  whole-heartedness  with  which  he  gave  him- 
self up,  keeping  back  nothing  for  time  or  eternity,  but 
putting  himself  with  all  he  had  on  God's  altar.  It 
reminds  us  of  the  final  crisis  in  the  career  of  Augus- 
tine, ^ly  readers  will  pardon  me,  I  am  sure,  if  I  dwell 
on  it  at  some  length,  for  it  is  the  determining  point  in 
McKendree's  career.  The  whole  volume  of  his  sub- 
sequent life  flowed  out  from  it  as  from  an  inexhausti- 
ble spring. 

The  year  of  our  Lord  1787  should  be  written  in 
red  letters  in  the  annals  of  Methodism.  That  mighty 
evangelist  John  Easter  was  abroad  in  the  land.  He 
had  himself  been  converted  under  the  preaching  of 
Robert  Williams,  and  was  carrying  on  the  true  suc- 
cession in  a  wonderful  way.  Like  a  flame  of  fire  he 
went  round  and  round  the  Brunswick  Circuit,  in  which 
the  IMcKendrees  then  lived.  In  that  single  year  over 
one  thousand  eight  hundred  persons  were  converted 
under  his  ministry.  His  gospel  became  a  sort  of  fresh 
apologetic  for  Christianity,  for  it  was  in  demonstration 
of  the  Spirit  and  of  power.  Wherever  he  spoke  the 
whole  country  turned  itself  out  to  hear  him,  and  few 


Genesis  of  Religious  Experience.  27 

heard  who  were  not  convinced  of  sin.  Whole  com- 
munities broke  down  before  him.  The  results  of  his 
preaching  can  be  visibly  traced  even  to  the  present 
time.  It  was  no  mere  blaze  of  excitement  that  he 
kindled.  \''ast  transformations  of  character  took  place 
under  his  ministry.  There  is  scarce  anything  like  it 
outside  of  Methodist  history.  The  nearest  parallel  to 
it  is  to  be  found  in  the  great  revival  of  1800,  of  which 
I  shall  presently  speak. 

McKendree  was  at  this  time  thirty  years  old,  a  full- 
grown  man  and  much  set  in  his  ways.  While  not 
given  to  dissipation  nor  flagrant  sin  of  any  sort,  he  was 
apparently  far  from  God.  Because  of  a  lack  of  perse- 
verance, he  had  lost  at  least  ten  years  of  Christian 
privilege  and  opportunity.  From  a  merely  human  point 
of  view,  it  was  little  likely  that  he  w^ould  now  take  the 
step  which  he  ought  to  have  taken  long  before.  But 
the  unseen  Spirit  whose  operations  are  as  silent  as  the 
revolutions  of  the  stars  was  still  at  work  in  the  abysses 
of  his  nature. 

It  came  to  pass  on  a  certain  Sabbath  that  he  visited 
one  of  his  neighbors  who  was  on  the  point  of  going 
to  church  to  hear  a  sermon  from  a  Mr.  Gibson,  a  local 
preacher,  but  on  McKendree's  arrival  concluded  to  send 
a  servant  with  his  wife  and  remain  at  home.  The  two 
friends  spent  the  morning  in  no  very  devout  way, 
"drinking  wine  and  reading  a  comedy."  When  the 
good  wife  returned  after  considerable  delay,  she  re- 
ported strange  things;  how  the  preacher  had  brought 
many  to  floods  of  tears,  to  cries  for  forgiveness,  and 
to  shouts  of  joy.     She  also  informed  them  that  Mr. 


28  Life  of  William  McKendrcc. 

Easter  would  preach  at  tlie  same  place  on  the  following 
Tuesday. 

What  effect  this  report  had  on  the  host  we  do  not 
know,  but  we  do  know  what  effect  it  had  on  Mc- 
Kendree.  "My  heart  was  touched,"  he  tells  us,  "at 
her  representation.  I  resolved  to  seek  religion,  and 
began  in  good  earnest  to  pray  for  it  that  evening." 
That  was  going  at  the  business  in  the  right  way.  On 
Tuesday  morning  he  went  to  church,  "fasting  and 
praying."  Mr.  Easter's  text  was:  "And  this  is  the 
condemnation,  that  light  is  come  into  the  world,  and 
men  loved  darkness  rather  than  light,  because  their 
deeds  were  evil."  The  Holy  Spirit  gave  effect  to  the 
message.  "From  this  time,"  says  ^IcKendree,  "I  was 
wholly  miserable."  But  a  better  day  was  soon  to  dawn 
on  him.  "Blessed  are  they  that  mourn :  for  they  shall 
be  comforted."  \Mien  Mr.  Easter  returned,  a  month 
later,  the  trembling  penitent  found  his  Saviour  and 
entered  into  rest.  The  whole  great  change  is  thus  de- 
scribed by  his  own  pen :  "^ly  convictions  were  re- 
newed ;  they  were  deep  and  pungent.  The  great  deep 
of  my  heart  was  broken  up,  its  desperately  wicked 
nature  was  disclosed,  and  the  awfully  ruinous  con- 
sequences clearly  appeared.  My  repentance  was  sin- 
cere. I  was  desirous  of  salvation,  and  became  willing 
to  be  saved  upon  any  terms ;  and  after  a  sore  and  sor- 
rowful travail  of  three  days,  which  were  employed  in 
hearing  Mr.  Easter  and  in  fasting  and  prayer,  while 
that  man  of  God  was  showing  a  large  congregation  the 
way  of  salvation  by  faith  with  a  clearness  which  at 
the  same  time  astonished  and  encouraged  me,  I  ven- 
tured my  all  on  Ciirist.     In  a  moment  my  soul  was 


Genesis  of  Religious  Experience.  29 

delivered  of  a  burden  too  heavy  to  be  borne,  and  joy 
instantly  succeeded  sorrow.  For  a  short  space  of  time 
I  was  fixed  in  silent  admiration,  giving  glory  to  God 
for  his  unspeakable  goodness  to  such  an  unworthy 
creature." 

That  sounds  not  unlike  the  experience  of  John  Wes- 
ley in  Fetter  Lane.  The  tone  of  the  one  is  identical 
with  that  of  the  other.  After  one  or  two  brief  seasons 
of  trial,  in  which  McKendree  was  tempted  to  doubt 
the  reality  of  his  conversion  because  it  seemed  too  good 
to  be  true  and  too  great  to  have  taken  place  in  so  short 
a  period  of  time,  he  settled  down  into  an  attitude  of 
unhesitating  faith  and  joy,  never  again  to  be  seriously 
disturbed  in  regard  to  the  matter  of  his  personal  ac- 
ceptance with  God.  To  the  end  of  his  earthly  days  he 
looked  back  with  tender  gratitude  to  this  particular 
season  of  his  life  when  he  could  first  truly  say,  ''Abba, 
Father."  Blessed  indeed  is  the  man  who  knows  that 
there  came  to  him  once  an  hour  when  all  sense  of 
dread  and  condemnation  fell  away  from  him,  and  the 
peace  of  God  which  passeth  all  understanding  flowed 
like  a  river  through  his  soul. 

The  early  Methodists  were  diligently  taught  to  grow 
in  grace  and  to  go  on  to  perfection.  Nothing  less  than 
this,  they  were  assured,  should  be  the  goal  of  all  their 
striving.  While  no  man,  so  the  instruction  ran,  could 
reach  it  by  his  own  unaided  effort,  every  man  might 
hope  to  do  so  by  the  grace  of  God.  According  to  Wes- 
ley's best  definition  of  it,  it  consists  in  loving  God  with 
all  one's  heart  and  soul  and  mind  and  strength,  and 
others  as  one's  self;  and  it  is  nowise  incompatible 
with  the  presence  of  many  lingering  infirmities,  but  is 


30  Life  of  William  McKendrce, 

incompatible  with  deliberate  and  willful  sins.  That  is 
a  Biblical  and  satisfactory  statement.  The  other  state- 
ment, that  it  consists  in  **the  absolute  extirpation  of  the 
roots  of  inbred  sin,"  is  psychological,  or  assumes  to  be 
so,  and  cannot  be  verified  by  any  available  test.  It  is 
better  to  stick  to  the  doctrine  that  Christian  perfection 
is  Christian  love  raised  to  the  highest  power.  If  one 
chooses  to  call  it  entire  sanctification,  there  is  no  objec- 
tion, provided  the  terms  are  duly  and  fairly  weighed 
and  not  forced  to  carry  any  burden  of  extra-Biblical 
meaning.  Whether  this  great  attainment  is  simply 
the  culminating  point  of  growth,  at  last  reaching  full 
maturity,  or  is  the  immediate  result  of  a  definite  act  of 
faith  in  a  given  moment  of  time,  was  much  discussed 
then  and  has  been  debated  ever  since.  Other  questions 
of  an  incidental  character,  and  not  very  profitable,  w^ere 
also  raised  in  connection  with  the  main  issue.  ^len 
and  women  whose  emotions  were  more  active  than 
their  intellects  sometimes  lost  their  balance  in  brooding 
over  it  too  exclusively.  Cases  were  not  rare  in  which 
very  extravagant  professions  were  blent  with  very 
imperfect  conduct.  These  gave  the  enemy  occasion 
to  blaspheme.  But  the  sound  and  substantial  element 
of  Christian  truth  in  the  doctrine  furnished  a  sufficient 
ground  for  preaching  it,  and  made  it,  in  the  language 
of  John  Wesley,  "the  special  depositum  of  Meth- 
odism." The  celebrated  Dr.  R.  W.  Dale,  one  of  the 
foremost  theologians  of  the  past  generation,  says :  "It 
contains  a  volume  of  ethical  implications,  the  measure 
of  which  has  not  yet  been  fully  taken." 

Not  long  after  McKendree's  conversion,  under  the 
eflFective  stimulus  of  sermons  and  of  public  and  private 


Genesis  of  Religious  Experience.  31 

exhortations,  he  began  to  reach  out  with  all  the  eager- 
ness of  his  renewed  heart  for  this  great  blessing.  He 
hungered  and  thirsted  for  it.  He  groaned  after  it. 
Day  and  night  he  gave  himself  to  the  pursuit  of  it. 
Once  more  I  shall  suffer  him  to  speak  for  himself: 
"The  more  I  sought  the  blessing  of  sanctification,  the 
more  I  felt  the  need  of  it.  In  its  pursuit  my  soul  grew 
in  grace  and  in  the  faith  that  overcomes  the  world. 
One  morning  I  walked  into  the  field,  and  while  I  was 
musing  such  an  overwhelming  power  of  the  Divine 
Being  overshadowed  me  as  I  had  never  experienced 
before.  Unable  to  stand,  I  sank  to  the  ground  more 
than  filled  with  transport.  My  cup  ran  over,  and  I 
shouted  aloud." 

Let  whoever  will  undertake  to  explain  an  experi- 
ence like  that  as  something  that  began  and  ended  in 
McKendree's  own  mind.  I  cannot  be  guilty  of  such 
irreverence.  Neither  have  I  any  desire  to  explain  it 
in  terms  of  a  technical  theology.  The  only  thing  that 
a  believer  can  say  is  that  God  was  in  it.  It  did  not 
terminate  in  itself,  but  left  an  everlasting  impress  on 
the  character  of  McKendree,  and  showed  itself  there- 
after in  all  manner  of  holiness  and  uprightness  of  con- 
versation. An  experience  which  vindicates  itself  in 
that  way  cannot  be  lightly  put  aside  as  of  no  real  re- 
ligious importance.  This  great  baptism  of  the  Spirit, 
not  breaking  in  on  him  without  antecedent  conditions, 
but  coming  in  answer  to  prayer  and  faith,  was  of  tre- 
mendous significance  to  the  young  and  ardent  Chris- 
tian. He  never  forgot  it.  Of  the  lonely  field  in  which 
he  wandered  on  that  eventful  morning,  he  could  truly 
say:  "This  is  none  other  than  the  house  of  God,  and 
3 


32  Life  of  IVilUam  McKcndree. 

this  is  the  gate  of  heaven."  Once  and  again  as  he 
moved  farther  on  the  way  he  received  similar  displays 
and  attestations  of  grace.  As  v^e  read  of  them  in  these 
colder  times  we  are  struck  with  a  sense  of  awe  and 
wonder.  But  really  we  ought  not  to  be  surprised  by 
them.  If  God  is  the  living  God  and  the  Father  of  the 
souls  of  men,  there  is  nothing  strange  nor  irrational 
in  his  coming  to  them  in  the  sweet  and  awful  dis- 
closures of  his  love.  He  has  not  reared  any  barriers 
between  himself  and  the  creatures  whom  he  has  made 
in  his  own  image.  Has  not  every  true  Christian  felt 
at  one  time  or  another  the  personal  touch  of  God  on 
him  ?  Yea,  has  not  every  one  in  his  moments  of  special 
surrender  been  almost  overborne  by  the  tides  of  God's 
life  flowing  in  upon  him?  Call  It  perfect  love,  entire 
sanctlficatlon,  or  what  you  will,  it  is  the  experience 
in  full  and  glorious  measure  of  the  powers  of  the  world 
to  come. 


CHAPTER  III. 

Call  to  the  Ministry. 

The  original  and  only  true  method  of  propagating 
the  gospel  may  be  gathered  from  John  i.  35-51.  On 
the  day  following  his  baptism  Jesus  was  passing 
through  the  throng  that  lined  the  banks  of  the  Jordan. 
When  John  the  Baptist  observed  him,  he  said  to  two 
of  his  own  disciples  who  were  standing  by:  "Behold 
the  Lamb  of  God."  The  disciples,  so  the  simple  nar- 
rative runs,  ''heard  him  speak,  and  they  followed 
Jesus,"  lingering  in  his  presence  for  the  few  remain- 
ing hours  of  the  day.  One  of  the  two  was  Andrew 
of  Bethsaida,  the  brother  of  Simon  Peter.  He  too,  as 
the  story  discloses,  was  a  man  of  quick  impulses.  *'He 
first  findeth  his  own  brother  Simon,  and  saith  unto  him. 
We  have  found  the  Messias.  And  he  brought  him  to 
Jesus."  What  else  could  he  have  done  that  would  have 
been  so  natural  and  appropriate?  The  next  day  a 
similar  incident  occurred  between  Philip  and  Na- 
thanael.  The  kingdom  of  Christ  spreads  by  the  spon- 
taneous activity  of  those  who  have  already  become  its 
subjects.  All  Christian  history  is  only  the  exhibition 
of  this  simple  fact.  The  instinctive  inclination  of  every 
newborn  Christian  is  to  communicate  the  glad  tidings 
to  his  kinsmen,  friends,  and  neighbors.  In  no  respect 
did  Methodism  more  nearly  resemble  primitive  Chris- 
tianity than  in  the  evangelistic  temper  that  character- 
ized its  first  adherents.  It  was  this  that  gave  It  such 
expansive  vigor  and  caused  it  to  spread  so  rapidly 
over  the  land.  N"ot  the  ministers  alone,  but  also  mul- 
titudes of  the  laity,  men  and  women  alike,  threw  them- 

(33) 


34  Life  of  William  McKcndree. 

selves  with  the  greatest  possible  zeal  into  the  work  of 
gaining  fresh  converts.  The  prayer  of  Moses  that  all 
the  Lord's  people  might  be  prophets  received  then  a 
large  fulfillment. 

It  was  altogether  sure  that  young  McKendree,  being 
such  a  man  as  he  was,  and  living  in  such  an  atmos- 
phere as  that  which  surrounded  him,  should  at  once 
desire  to  bestir  himself  for  the  salvation  of  others. 
We  have  his  own  testimony  that  his  heart  burned 
within  him  when  he  considered  the  irreligiousness  of 
many  of  his  acquaintances.  Almost  without  knowing 
what  he  was  doing,  and  simply  following  the  generous 
impulses  that  rose  up  in  his  spirit,  he  began  to  pray, 
to  exhort,  to  teach,  finding,  what  many  have  since 
found,  that  his  apprehension  of  his  sonship  toward  God 
had  brought  him  an  unknown  gift  of  utterance.  As 
he  himself  said:  "My  heart  was  enlarged,  and  I  saw 
more  clearly  than  ever  the  danger  of  an  unconverted 
state.  For  such  (unawakened)  persons  I  prayed  with 
anxious  care.  Sometimes,  when  called  on  to  pray  in 
public,  my  soul  would  get  in  an  agony,  and  the  Lord 
would  in  great  compassion  pour  out  his  Holy  Spirit. 
Souls  were  convicted  and  converted,  and  Zion  rejoiced 
abundantly  in  those  days.  Without  a  thought  of 
preaching  I  began  to  tell  my  acquaintances  what  the 
Lord  had  done  for  me.  It  had  its  effect,  and  lasting 
impressions  were  made.  Thus  was  I  imperceptibly  led 
on  till  the  preachers  and  the  people  began  to  urge  me 
tc  speak  more  publicly." 

When  the  thought  of  formally  entering  the  ministry 
was  thus  thrust  upon  McKendree's  mind,  he  was  much 
perplexed  by  it.    The  possibility  of  disobeying  the  Di- 


Call  to  the  Ministry,  35 

vine  will  troubled  him  greatly ;  but  the  danger  of  run- 
ning without  a  call  was  equally  repugnant  to  him.  At 
times  he  would  be  almost  ready  to  say :  "Here  am  I ; 
send  me."  But  when  he  reflected  on  the  difficult  and 
weighty  responsibilities  of  the  ministerial  office  and 
considered  the  scantiness  and  inadequacy  of  his  own 
equipment,  he  drew  back.  While  he  was  in  this  con- 
fused state  of  mind,  his  father,  discerning  his  condi- 
tion and  surmising  the  real  cause  of  it,  said  to  him  one 
day  as  they  were  sitting  at  the  table:  "William,  has 
not  the  Lord  called  you  to  preach  the  gospel?  I  be- 
lieve he  has,  and  I  charge  you  not  to  quench  the  Spirit." 
These  solemn  words,  coming  from  such  a  source  at 
such  a  time,  impressed  him  greatly  and  no  doubt  helped 
him  to  reach  a  right  conclusion. 

A  little  later,  when  he  was  quite  ill,  Mr.  Easter,  to 
whom  he  was  already  so  much  indebted,  came  to  see 
him,  imploring  the  Lord  to  raise  him  up  to  health  and 
strength  and  then  to  thrust  him  out  as  a  laborer  in 
the  vineyard.  With  renewed  submissiveness  and  much 
fasting  and  prayer  he  looked  to  God  for  direction,  and 
was  not  disappointed.  The  direction  came  to  him,  as 
he  himself  in  his  later  years  always  thought,  through 
the  active  but  unsolicited  intervention  of  Christian 
friends.  And  why  not  so?  The  mind  of  the  Church 
is  often  the  medium  through  which  the  mind  of  the 
Lord  is  made  known.  The  Church  may  not  properly 
issue  a  call  to  preach.  That  is  a  prerogative  which  the 
Lord  has  expressly  reserved  in  his  own  lands.  But 
the  Church  must  test  all  those  who  profess  to  have 
been  called,  and  determine  whether  their  profession  is 
genuine.    And  her  jud'^Tncrtt  is  never  to  be  despised. 


36  Life  of  William  McKendree. 

About  nine  months  after  !McKendree*s  conversion, 
and  while  he  was  Hstening  with  an  open  ear  and  a 
devout  spirit  for  the  \'oice  from  on  high,  he  was  in- 
vited by  Mr.  Easter  to  attend  in  his  company  the  ap- 
proaching session  of  the  Mrginia  Conference,  which 
was  to  meet  in  the  early  summer  of  1788  in  the  city 
of  Petersburg,  about  twenty-five  miles  from  Richmond. 
Esteeming  himself  greatly  honored  by  such  a  request, 
and  hoping  to  get  both  pleasure  and  profit  from  the 
journey,  he  promptly  consented  to  go.  But  for  several 
days  after  reaching  Petersburg  he  saw  little  or  nothing 
of  the  Conference,  which  always  sat  at  that  time  with 
closed  doors.  When,  however,  the  appointments  were 
about  to  be  announced,  he  was  invited  to  come  and 
hear  them.  As  he  had  never  been  present  on  an  occa- 
sion of  the  like  kind,  he  was  naturally  more  or  less 
curicrus  about  it.  The  writer  of  these  lines,  now  nearly 
half  advanced  in  his  seventh  decade,  has  never  yet  for- 
gotten the  thrill  of  interest  that  swept  through  his 
spirit  when  he  saw  the  spectacle  for  the  first  time,  nor 
the  deep  feeling  of  awe  when,  a  few  years  later,  he 
himself  first  lined  up  to  get  his  own  marching  orders. 
He  expects  to  carry  these  memories  into  eternity. 

McKendree  supposed  that  he  was  entering  the  Con- 
ference room  as  a  visitor  and  guest.  To  his  great 
wonder  he  found  out  that  he  had  been  received  into 
the  traveling  connection  and  sent  as  assistant  preacher 
or  "helper"  to  the  Mecklenburg  Circuit.  He  had  not 
been  recommended  by  any  Quarterly  Conference.  He 
had  not  even  been  licensed  to  preach.  He  had  not 
himself  been  consulted  on  the  subject.  Pie  was  not 
vet  sure  of  his  vocation.     Xothine  was  ever  more  in- 


Call  to  the  Ministry.  37 

formal  or  irregular.  But  the  need  of  men  was  great 
and  seemed  to  justify  emergent  measures.  McKendree, 
moreover,  was  not  entirely  unknown.  Some  of  the 
ablest  ministers  in  the  Conference  were  well  acquainted 
with  him  and  his  family.  They  judged  him  a  "safe 
case"  and  cordially  commended  him  to  the  whole  body. 
So  without  more  ado  he  was  started  on  that  wonder- 
ful career  which  was  to  carry  him  over  the  continent  as 
a  laborer  and  a  leader  in  the  Lord's  host,  and  was  to 
end  only  with  his  triumphant  death,  more  than  half  a 
century  later.  It  used  to  be  told  that  Bishop  Robert 
Paine,  one  of  the  strongest  and  noblest  men  that  ever 
adorned  the  episcopal  office,  was  likewise  brought  into 
the  ministry  by  a  very  short  route.  When  he  came  up 
to  the  Annual  Conference,  his  parents  being  Baptists, 
he  had  never  been  baptized.  But  neither  this  fact  nor 
any  other  lack  of  technical  preparation  proved  a  bar 
to  his  being  accepted.  Such  apparently  lawless  pro- 
ceedings are  not  to  be  taken  as  a  precedent.  That  the 
issue  was  satisfactory  in  the  cases  of  these  two  eml- 
ment  men  is  no  argument  for  a  general  neglect  of  pre- 
scribed methods  and  usages.  It  must  be  remembered, 
too,  that  there  was  a  careful  preliminary  scrutiny  of 
the  moral  and  religious  character  of  McKendree  and 
Paine.    That  is,  after  all,  the  main  thing. 

How  was  McKendree  himself  affected  by  this  sud- 
den and  unexpected  turn  of  events  ?  He  says :  "Hav- 
ing been  dismissed,  I  was  walking  in  another  room 
(the  Conference  sat  In  a  private  dwelling )p  when  my 
presiding  elder  came  in  and,  discovering  my  agitation, 
took  me  In  his  arms  and  said :  While  you  were  stand- 
ing before  the  Conference  I  believed  that  God  showed 


38  Life  of  William  McKendree. 

me  he  had  a  work  for  you  to  do.  Don't  deceive  me.' 
This  had  the  most  happy  effect.  It  determined  my  un- 
settled mind.  I  had  only  wanted  to  know  what  was 
right,  to  do  it  as  well  as  I  could.  I  had  the  fullest  con- 
fidence in  the  preachers  ;  and  in  reflecting  on  the  charac- 
ter and  judgment  of  those  who  had  recommended  me, 
strengthened  with  what  the  presiding  elder  with  flow- 
ing tears  had  just  said  to  me,  I  resolved  to  reject  my 
doubts,  submit  to  their  judgment,  take  the  work  to 
which  I  was  appointed,  and  do  as  well  as  I  could. 
Thus  after  more  than  eight  months  of  painful  suspense 
my  heart  was  fixed,  and  I  set  out  for  my  circuit." 

This  last  clause  has  a  pleasant  sound.  IMounted  on 
a  good  horse  (for  he  would  never  ride  an  inferior  one), 
his  saddlebags  well  packed  with  his  limited  wardrobe 
and  his  Bible  and  hymn  book  and  other  necessary 
things,  the  farewell  kisses  of  the  home  folks  on  his  lips, 
he  "set  out"  across  the  country,  across  the  State,  over 
to\vering  mountains  and  turbulent  rivers,  and  through 
trackless  forests,  south  to  the  land  of  the  palmetto 
and  the  long-leaved  pine,  north  to  the  Great  Lakes, 
west  to  the  Father  of  Waters  and  beyond,  and  east  to 
the  last  extremities  of  New  England.  Nor  did  he  halt 
nor  break  his  gait  till  increasing  years  and  gather- 
ing infirmities  made  it  impossible  for  him  to  go  farther. 
He  "set  out  for  his  circuit"  first,  but  kept  his  eye  ever 
beyond  all  things  visible  and  temporal  on  the  city  which 
hath  the  fotmdations.  O  brave-hearted  and  modest 
young  man,  trembling  at  thy  own  weakness,  but  trust- 
ing in  One  who  never  fails,  the  angel  of  the  Lord  rode 
with  thee  on  that  day,  though  thou  sawest  not  the 
shining  of  his  face  nor  heard  the  sound  of  his  voice! 


CHAPTER  IV. 
Four  Years  a  Circuit  Preacher. 

In  his  first  appointment  as  helper,  or  junior  preacher, 
on  Mecklenburg  Circuit,  McKendree  was  in  most  re- 
spects very  fortunate.  The  presiding  elder  of  the  dis- 
trict was  James  O'Kelley,  one  of  the  oldest  itinerants 
in  the  service,  an  able  and  effective  preacher,  and  in 
his  best  days  ranking  next  to  Asbury  himself  in  public 
esteem.  At  that  time,  though  he  was  already  beginning 
to  show  marked  eccentricities  of  character,  he  had  not 
yet  been  betrayed  into  those  schismatic  follies  which 
have  ever  since  obscured  the  greatness  of  his  name. 
The  preacher  in  charge  of  the  circuit  was  Philip  Cox, 
an  Englishman,  some  years  resident  in  America,  pro- 
foundly and  fervently  religious,  endowed  with  signal 
gifts  of  evangelism,  and  leaving  a  shining  track  behind 
him  wherever  he  went.  He  was  particularly  noticeable 
for  his  zeal  in  the  distribution  of  religious  literature, 
and  was  the  first  traveling  book  steward,  or  general 
colporteur,  of  American  Methodism.  McKendree 
speaks  of  him  with  the  greatest  affection  as  "an  in- 
structor and  a  father."  The  Mecklenburg  people  were 
of  a  superior  quality.  In  general  culture  and  in  sound 
piety  they  were  worthy  of  praise.  Many  of  them  had 
been  Methodists  since  the  days  of  Robert  Williams, 
and  took  a  great  delight  In  smoothing  the  way  of  the 
young  preacher.  It  was  well  for  him  to  make  a  start 
under  such  favorable  conditions,  for  he  was  constitu- 
tionally timid  and  bashful  and  needed  all  the  help  that 

(39) 


40  Life  of  William  McKendree. 

he  could  get.  In  a  letter  written  long  afterwards  he 
says :  "It  looked  to  me  as  if  they  wished  to  bear  a  part 
of  the  cross  for  me.  On  this  circuit  there  were  many 
deeply  experienced  Christians  by  whose  walk  and  con- 
versation I  profited  much.  I  hope  I  shall  never  forget 
how  sweetly  they  used  to  talk  of  the  triumphs  of  grace 
and  the  love  of  Jesus." 

Even  with  the  encouragement  of  such  noble  Chris- 
tian friends  McKendree  once  in  a  while  suffered  dis- 
comfiture. Dr.  Stevens  says:  "At  one  of  his  appoint- 
ments, after  singing  and  prayer,  he  took  his  text  and 
attempted  to  look  at  his  audience;  but  such  was  his 
embarrassment  that  he  could  not  lift  his  eyes  from  the 
Bible  till  he  had  finished  his  sermon.  After  the  ser- 
mon, his  host  at  the  appointment  left  the  house,  sup- 
posing the  preacher  would  follow  him ;  but  not  seeing 
him,  he  returned  to  the  church,  and  there  found  him 
seated  on  the  lowest  step  of  the  pulpit  stairs.  He  in- 
vited him  to  go  home  with  him.  McKendree  said  in  a 
mournful  tone:  'I  am  not  fit  to  go  home  with  any- 
body.' "  Is  there  any  Methodist  minister  anywhere  in 
the  world  who  has  not  sometimes  felt  just  that  way? 

The  following  year  McKendree  was  sent  to  Cumber- 
land Circuit,  with  John  Barker  as  preacher  in  charge. 
Bishop  Paine  says  that  "this  field  of  labor  lay  on  James 
River  and  principally  in  Washington  County."  How 
the  Bishop,  usually  so  accurate,  could  have  lapsed  into 
so  serious  an  error,  I  do  not  know.  Washington 
County,  Va.,  is  on  the  extreme  western  border  of  the 
State,  next  to  the  Tennessee  line.  The  James  River 
does  not  touch  it  by  at  least  two  hundred  miles.  By 
some  curious  slip  of  the  pen  the  Bishop  substituted 


Four  Years  a  Circuit  Preacher.  41 

Washington  for  Cumberland.  The  James  River  people 
were  also  intelligent  and  hospitable  to  a  marked  de- 
gree. The  lines  had  again  fallen  to  McKendree  in 
pleasant  places.  But  at  the  end  of  six  months  he  was 
returned  to  Mecklenburg.  Such  frequent  changes 
were  too  common  in  those  days  to  excite  any  remark. 
They  constituted  the  rule  rather  than  the  exception. 
The  fact  that  McKendree  was  able  to  take  the  back 
track  shows  that  he  had  left  a  good  name  behind  him. 

By  his  diary  and  by  information  from  other  sources 
we  are  able  to  follow  him  quite  closely  during  these 
two  initial  years  and  to  see  what  manner  of  life  he  led. 
He  gave  himself  up  with  great  zeal  to  the  study  of  the 
Holy  Scriptures  and  of  other  good  books.  He  literally 
prayed  without  ceasing.  In  the  quietness  of  his  owm 
chamber,  as  he  walked  in  the  fields  and  the  forests, 
and  as  he  rode  by  the  way,  he  lifted  up  his  soul  unto 
God.  The  early  morning  hours,  "a  great  while  before 
day,"  bore  frequent  witness  to  his  devotions.  Often 
in  the  middle  of  the  night  he  rose  from  bed  to  fall  upon 
his  knees.  He  was  much  given  to  fasting,  and,  in  fact, 
sometimes  carried  it  almost  to  the  limit  of  unwise 
asceticism.  We  find  him  once  raising  the  inquiry  as  to 
whether  a  Christian  man  ought  ever  to  laugh.  Yet 
the  dominant  note  In  his  life  was  one  of  joy.  At  times 
he  received  overwhelming  manifestations  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  which  prostrated  him  In  humility  and  love  and 
speechless  awe  before  God.  His  diligence  never 
flagged.  He  preached  nearly  every  day  to  all  sorts  of 
audiences,  in  all  sorts  of  places ;  led  the  classes  as  he 
went  around  the  circuit;  visited  the  sick,  encouraged 
the  penitent,  and  edified  the  saints.     To  do  the  whole 


42  Life  of  William  McKendree. 

work  of  a  Alethodist  preacher  was  his  supreme  aim. 
He  could  have  truly  said,  as  Wesley  said  long  before 
him :  ''Leisure  and  I  have  parted  company." 

It  is  a  noteworthy  fact  that  from  the  earliest  begin- 
nings of  his  ministry  he  showed  a  lively  interest  in  the 
spiritual  welfare  of  the  colored  people,  preaching  to 
them  whenever  opportunity  afforded  and  otherwise 
seeking  to  do  them  good.  From  conviction  he  was  op- 
posed to  slavery  and  would  have  been  glad  to  see  it 
wiped  out  had  it  been  possible  to  do  so  by  rational  and 
peaceable  means.  But  there  is  no  proof  that  he  at  any 
time  coincided  with  the  radical  views  of  Bishop  Coke 
or  was  ever  willing  to  foster  a  social  revolution  to  se- 
cure the  freedom  of  the  colored  people.  He  was  the 
last  man  to  approve  a  program  of  reformation  by  as- 
sassination or  to  take  any  part  in  the  canonization  of 
that  bold  and  bloody  murderer  whose  soul  is  still 
"marching  on"  in  the  disordered  imaginations  of  his 
followers  and  admirers.  I  am  saying  this  here  and 
now  to  avoid  the  necessity  of  saying  it  later. 

^IcKendree's  profiting  in  his  studies  and  other 
labors  appeared  unto  all  men.  He  grew  steadily  in 
grace  and  in  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
His  character,  always  serious  and  thoughtful,  acquired 
increased  depth  and  strength.  The  Church  was  much 
quickened  under  his  ministry,  and  sinners  were  con- 
verted unto  God.  There  was  nothing  spectacular  nor 
dramatic  in  his  methods.  Nobody  was  astonished  by 
the  rapidity  of  his  development.  He  did  not  come  up, 
like  Jonah's  gourd,  in  a  single  night.  Yet  even  in  the 
beginning  he  gave  the  promise  of  those  qualities  as  a 
preacher  and  an  administrator  that  in  his  maturer  man- 


Four  Years  a  Circuit  Preacher,  43 

hood  drew  the  attention  of  the  nation.  While  his  rise 
was  by  no  means  rapid,  it  was  steady.  The  ground 
that  he  once  gained  he  kept.  He  was  not  a  flaming  evan- 
gehst  hke  John  Easter.  The  multitudes  did  not  throng 
and  press  upon  him  as  they  did  later  upon  Bascom. 
But  as  time  went  on  he  had  increasingly  good  au- 
diences. Those  who  came  once  to  hear  him  were  likely 
to  come  again.  He  proclaimed  the  simple  truth  of  the 
gospel  in  demonstration  of  the  Spirit  and  of  power. 
The  Lord  gave  him  souls  as  the  sign  and  seal  of  his 
ministry.  All  the  confusing  doubts  that  he  had  felt 
about  the  reality  of  his  call  vanished  away,  and  he  at 
last  rejoiced  in  the  satisfying  certainty  that  he  was  in 
the  track  of  duty. 

At  the  Conference  which  met  at  Petersburg  June  14, 
1790,  McKendree,  having  accomplished  his  probation, 
was  admitted  into  full  connection,  and  was  likewise 
elected  and  ordained  deacon.  His  own  account  of  it 
all  is  most  interesting.  Reading  it  we  can  easily 
imagine  ourselves  back  in  the  little  assembly  in  a  pri- 
vate house  and  participating  in  the  exercises  of  the 
hour.  Here  is  an  extract :  "Got  to  Petersburg,  found 
Conference  sitting  and  the  young  preachers  going 
through  their  examination,  and  to  my  comfort  heard 
eighteen  or  twenty  received  without  a  blemish  after 
standing  the  time  of  their  probation.  In  the  evening 
Bishop  Asbury  read  his  letters  from  different  quar- 
ters, which  gave  accounts  of  the  great  work  of  God 
going  on.  The  Lord  made  it  a  time  of  sweetness  and 
of  power  to  us  in  general.  At  the  time  of  the  adjourn- 
ing of  the  Conference  (for  the  evening)  Mr.  Jarratt, 
an  Episcopalian  preacher  who  was  with  us,  went  to 


44  -^'/^  of  U'illia}]i  McKendrce. 

prayer,  and  a  time  of  shouting  we  had/'  I  wonder 
whether  any  Methodist  Conference  has  ever  since 
fallen  to  shouting  over  the  praying  of  an  Episcopal 
minister.  The  probabilities  are  that  Jarratt  prayed 
without  a  book.  Anyhow,  blessings  on  his  memory ! 
He  was  the  kind  friend  of  the  ]\Iethodists  when  they 
were  but  a  feeble  folk,  and  his  walk  and  conversation 
were  a  pattern  which  all  men  could  safely  follow. 

Another  quotation  from  the  diary  will  not  be  amiss : 
"On  Tuesday,  second  day  of  the  Conference,  Mr.  Jar- 
ratt preached  at  eleven  o'clock.  After  preaching, 
seventeen  preachers  being  elected,  they  were  called  and 
presented  to  the  bishop  to  be  ordained  deacons.  Such 
a  sight  I  never  saw  before.  It  was  indeed  a  solemn 
time  and  seemed  to  affect  the  extensive  congregation. 
For  my  own  part,  I  think  I  was  never  thus  affected 
before.  I  felt  fresh  desires  and  stronger  resolutions 
than  I  ever  experienced  before  to  live  to  God  alto- 
gether. The  world  this  day  seemed  to  be  left  very  far 
behind  and  my  soul  encompassed  with  light."  Strange- 
ly enough,  he  does  not  mention  that  he  himself  was  one 
of  the  seventeen  men  ordained  to  the  diaconate.  Did 
an  excess  of  modesty  prompt  this  reticence?  Or  was 
he  simply  so  filled  with  the  solemn  emotions  of  the 
hour  that  he  forgot  to  set  down  his  own  name  in  the 
story  ? 

At  the  close  of  the  Conference  McKendrce  was  sent 
to  Portsmouth  Circuit,  Jesse  Xicholson  in  charge,  but 
was  removed  and  spent  the  latter  part  of  the  year  with 
William  Spencer  on  Surry  Circuit.  His  diary  for  the 
year  reveals  nothing  extraordinary,  but  still  shows 
that  he  was  making  progress  every  way :  "This  was  a 


Four  Years  a  Circuit  Preacher.  45 

year  of  much  comfort  to  my  soul.  I  found  an  affec- 
tionate people,  indeed.  Many  were  deeply  experienced 
saints  who  were  a  blessing  to  me.  *As  iron  sharpeneth 
iron/  so  did  the  conversation  of  these  brethren  provoke 
me  to  love  and  good  works.  I  found  father,  mother, 
brother,  and  sister  in  deed  and  in  truth.  It  was  my 
meat  and  drink  to  employ  my  spare  moments  in  study. 
Fasting  and  prayer  were  a  pleasure.  I  had  an  almost 
uninterrupted  heaven  below.  The  work  of  the  Lord 
prospered  in  our  hands,  particularly  in  the  latter  part 
of  the  year.  A  considerable  number  of  members  was 
added  to  the  societies." 

There  was  only  one  thing  that  gave  him  much  trou- 
ble or  concern.  His  presiding  elder,  James  O'Kelley, 
instead  of  counseling  loyalty  to  the  Church  and  its 
government,  had  become  so  set  against  Asbury  and 
those  who  agreed  with  him  that  he  spent  nearly  the 
whole  year  spreading  dissatisfaction  and  organizing 
discontent,  and,  what  is  w^orse,  did  it  all  in  the  name  of 
the  Lord.  McKendree  was  much  under  his  influence, 
and  suffered  from  it.    Of  this  more  by  and  by. 

From  the  Conference  which  met  April  20,  1791,  Mc- 
Kendree was  sent  to  Amelia  Circuit.  It  joined  the 
Cumberland  Circuit,  on  which  he  had  spent  a  part  of 
his  second  year.  His  colleague  was  John  Baldwin. 
The  time  for  holding  the  Conference  was  changed  this 
year  from  spring  till  winter,  so  that  he  really  spent 
only  six  months  in  Amelia,  which  does  not  appear  to 
have  been  marked  in  any  way  except  by  the  continued 
efforts  of  O'Kelley  to  thwart  Asbury  and  introduce 
radical  changes  into  the  government  of  the  Church. 
That  sore-headed  old  preacher  had  reached  the  point 


46  Life  of  ll'illiani  McKendrcc. 

where  he  could  not  be  happy  except  in  opposition  to 
the  powers  that  be.  **I  enjoyed  peace  of  mind,"  says 
McKendree,  ''and  comfortable  fellowship  with  those 
among  whom  I  labored.  We  began  to  have  some  hope 
of  a  General  Conference  to  adjust  our  conflicting  opin- 
ions, and  our  fears  began  to  subside." 

There  is  a  constant  temptation  to  quote  from  the 
diary.  I  must  make  space  for  at  least  one  or  two  pas- 
sages as  showing  that,  despite  all  disturbances,  Mc- 
Kendree kept  very  close  to  God.  The  date  of  the 
first  passage  is  August  4,  1790:  ''Rose  early;  poured 
out  my  soul  in  prayer  and  praise ;  rode  to  Portsmouth  ; 
met  the  other  preacher,  and  at  twelve  o'clock  met  class  ; 
had  a  comfortable  time.  Rode  into  the  country  and 
preached  at  4  p.m.  The  power  of  the  Lord  was 
amongst  the  people ;  deep  solemnity  rested  on  the  whole 
congregation ;  about  twelve  or  fifteen  down  crying 
for  mercy.  One  was  converted  and  appeared  to  be  as 
happy  as  a  creature  can  be.  Returned  to  town,  preached 
at  eight  o'clock,  and  went  to  rest  at  half  past  ten 
o'clock,  much  fatigued  in  body,  but  with  perfect  calm- 
ness of  soul." 

And  that  of  the  second  is  October  10  and  11,  1790: 
"Sunday. — Rose  at  3  a.m.  ;  family  prayer  at  four, 
a  time  of  heavenly  sweetness  to  our  souls.  Went  into 
the  lovely  fields  when  the  blushing  morn  is  dispersing 
gloomy  night ;  breathed  the  sweet  morning  air  with 
the  love  of  God  in  my  soul.  About  sunrise  I  began  and 
preached  to  about  thirty  persons  from,  'And  the  angel 
said  unto  the  women,  Fear  not  ye,  for  I  know  that  ye 
seek  Jesus,  which  was  crucified :  he  is  not  here,  for  he 
is  risen,  as  he  said.'    My  dear  Master  gave  me  to  feel 


Four  Years  a  Circuit  Preacher,  47 

what  I  preached.  Love  feast  for  the  band  society  fol- 
lowed. O  how  the  saints  did  shout  and  tell  the  won- 
ders of  redeeming  love !  But  had  a  cold  time  at  public 
meeting." 

^'Monday. — Rest  day.  Spent  my  time  in  reading, 
writing,  prayer,  and  meditation,  except  a  little  for  con- 
versation witli  my  brethren.  At  twelve  o'clock  in  my 
general  prayer  for  mankind  I  prayed  particularly  for 
the  preachers.  Bless  the  Lord  for  the  degree  of  con- 
formity I  feel  to  the  Lord's  will.  O  give  me  universal 
conformity  and  perfect  resignation !  In  the  evening 
walked  to  a  distant  grove  and  prostrated  myself  at  the 
feet  of  the  awful  Jehovah.  Met  my  brethren  in  cove- 
nant prayer;  my  soul  all  on  fire." 
4 


CHAPTER  V. 

Four  Years  More  on  the  Circuit,  with  an 

Episode. 

All  the  Conferences  which  up  to  this  time  McKen- 
dree  had  attended  (four  in  number)  met  at  Peters- 
burg in  the  spring  or  early  summer.  But  the  fifth  one, 
of  which  we  are  now  to  speak,  convened  at  Lane's 
Chapel,  in  Southampton  County,  December  21,  1791. 
Bishop  Asbury  says :  "This  Conference  began  and 
ended  in  peace."  The  two  Conferences  immediately 
preceding  it  had  been  anything  but  peaceable.  It  is 
likely  that,  as  a  General  Conference  was  now  promised 
for  the  next  year,  everybody  felt  disposed  to  let  con- 
troversy cease  till  that  time.  Not  even  O'Kellcy 
showed  any  spirit  of  warfare.  Having  traveled  four 
full  years,  McKendree  was  duly  elected  by  the  Con- 
ference to  elder's  orders ;  and  on  Sunday,  December 
25,  was  ordained  to  that  office  by  Bishop  Asbury,  who 
had  before  ordained  him  deacon,  and  afterwards  or- 
dained him  bishop. 

At  the  close  of  the  Conference  he  was  sent  as 
preacher  in  charge  to  Greenville  Circuit,  with  Joel 
Thacker  as  his  assistant.  He  did  not  want  to  go. 
Quite  possibly  he  expressed  his  opposition  to  doing  so. 
But  all  the  same  he  went.  Let  us  hear  his  explanation  : 
"This  was  the  first  station  that  I  felt  my  will  opposed 
to.  It  fixed  me  in  the  midst  of  my  old  acquaintances, 
many  of  whom  were  in  our  societies  before  me  and 
considered   themselves    as   my   superiors.      It    was    a 

(48) 


Four  Years  More  on  the  Circuit.  49 

sifting  time  in  those  parts,  and  I  expected  that  some 
of  them  would  have  to  be  excluded.  This  I  feared 
they  would  not  bear  from  me,  which  was  the  cause  of 
my  unwillingness  to  go  to  the  circuit.  But  in  this  I 
was  disappointed.  I  believe  I  never  went  through 
the  business  of  a  circuit  with  more  ease.  Although 
many  were  turned  out,  there  were  no  fixed  prejudices 
in  consequence  of  the  administration  as  far  as  I  know. 
True,  we  had  but  few  additions  to  the  Church ;  yet 
we  had  many  sweet  and  precious  meetings."  Mc- 
Kendree  was  not  the  first  itinerant  minister  who  found 
out  that  an  appointment  might  be  better  than  it  looked, 
and  neither  was  he  the  last  one. 

This  brings  us  to  another  critical  point  in  McKen- 
dree's  career.  I  have  alluded  above  to  James  O'Kelley. 
Being  such  a  man  as  he  was,  and  occupying  such  a 
position  in  the  Church  as  he  did,  he  naturally  acquired 
a  great  influence  over  McKendree's  mind,  and  came 
near  to  turning  him  quite  aside  from  the  path  of  use- 
fulness and  honor  on  which  he  had  entered.  As  an 
Irishman,  O'Kelley  had  a  natural  distrust  of  govern- 
ment, and  for  some  reason  or  other  he  had  come  to 
cherish  a  persistent  dislike  for  Bishop  Asbury.  The 
majority  of  Methodist  historians  do  not  hesitate  to 
charge  that  he  was  controlled  by  envy  and  jealousy. 
I  shall  not  indulge  in  so  extreme  a  judgment,  for  it  is 
well  to  be  charitable  even  toward  a  man  who  has  been 
nearly  ninety  years  in  his  grave.  But  I  will  say  that  on 
the  supposition  of  his  having  been  a  simple-minded 
and  straightforward  man  it  is  difficult  to  understand 
the  course  which  he  now  took.  Waiving  all  other  con- 
siderations, he  and  Asbury  were  so  differently  consti- 


50  Life  of  IVilliam  McKendrce, 

tuted  that  it  would  have  been  difficult  for  them  in  any 
complicated  situation  to  see  eye  to  eye  or  to  act  in 
harmony. 

The  organizing  General  Conference  of  1784  had  made 
no  provision  for  the  subsequent  meeting  of  General 
Conferences,  and  does  not  even  seem  to  have  thought 
of  taking  such  a  step.  As  practical  men  they  had  met 
the  emergency  with  which  they  were  then  confronted 
and  did  not  undertake  to  forecast  the  difficulties  that 
might  arise  in  the  future,  nor  to  make  provision  against 
them.  The  Discipline  of  the  Church  they  had  drawn 
out  in  definite  form,  and  left  it  with  no  suggestion  as 
to  how  it  might  later  be  altered,  amended,  or  improved. 
As  a  matter  of  course,  however,  it  was  still  within  the 
power  of  the  whole  body  of  ministers  to  change  it  at 
their  will.  What  they  had  made  they  could  unmake. 
If  they  had  once  got  together,  a  mere  majority  vote 
would  have  been  sufficient  to  effect  this  end. 

But  there  was  the  rub.  Getting  them  together 
was  not  an  easy  thing.  True,  they  met  annually 
in  different  groups,  in  different  parts  of  the  coun- 
try. These  groups  were  not  yet  Annual  Confer- 
ences in  our  present  sense  of  the  term.  They  were 
without  fixed  geographical  boundaries  or  definite 
membership.  It  was  not  till  1796  that  such  limita- 
tions were  attached.  Up  to  that  time  the  number 
of  them  and  their  times  and  places  of  meeting  were 
determined  from  year  to  year  so  as  to  best  meet 
the  convenience  of  the  bishops  and  the  preachers. 
To  get  any  legislative  measure  through  them  all — 
and  it  had  to  go  through  them  all  before  it  could  be 
effective — meant,  therefore,  an  almost  endless  series 


Four  Years  More  on  the  Circuit.  51 

of  debates.  The  inevitable  effect  was  divisive.  Men 
in  different  parts  of  the  country  could  not  look  one 
another  in  the  face,  nor  be  sure  that  they  really  under- 
stood one  another's  minds.  Nor  was  it  at  all  likely 
that  when  the  debates  had  been  ended  and  the  votes 
taken  and  declared  there  would  be  general  acquiescence 
in  the  result. 

But  it  was  as  sure  as  anything  could  be  that  legisla- 
tion would  become  a  necessity,  and  that  new  measures 
would  be  required  to  meet  new  conditions.  That  the 
Discipline  of  1784  should  come  to  be  accepted  as  final 
and  unalterable  was  not  possible.  No  Protestant 
Church  will  ever  agree  that  any  set  of  ecclesiastical 
statutes  is  unchangeable.  While  Church  polities  should 
not  be  altered  in  mere  wantonness,  they  must  be  held 
open  to  such  improvements  as  the  enlarging  experi- 
ences of  godly  men  may  deem  best.  The  worst  enemy 
to  a  true  conservatism  is  the  temper  that  doggedly  re- 
sists all  innovations,  for  it  is  certain  to  breed  radicalism 
by  reaction. 

Within  a  few  years  Asbury  and  the  other  leaders 
began  to  see  that  they  must  devise  some  workable 
scheme  by  which  the  Connection  could  express  its  mind 
and  judgment  on  living  issues  in  such  a  way  as  to  avoid 
the  awkward  and  cumbersome  method  of  voting 
through  the  yearly  Conferences.  It  seems  strange  to 
us  that  they  did  not  at  once  convene  another  General 
Conference.  The  objection  offered  to  it  was  that  it 
would  cost  a  great  deal  of  time  and  money.  But  this 
objection  was  no  more  potent  than  it  would  have  been 
in  1784,  save  that  now  there  were  many  more  preach- 
ers to  come  together,  and  the  question  of  entertaining 


1).  Qt  (LiL  Lid. 


^2  Life  of  IVilliam  McKeudree. 

them  fn  one  place  would  have  presented  some  substan- 
tial difficulties.  Back  of  the  economical  argument 
there  was  probably  the  lingering  fear  that  if  all  the 
preachers  should  meet  in  one  body  they  might  do 
violence  to  the  existing  order.  Asbury  never  quite  got 
over  his  early  training,  nor  ceased  to  be  somewhat 
doubtful  about  trusting  mere  majorities. 

As  an  expediency,  then,  it  was  determined  to  create 
a  Representative  Council.  In  1789  this  plan  was  laid 
before  the  yearly  Conferences  by  Bishop  Asbury,  and 
met  with  their  almost  unanimous  approval.  Later  in 
the  year — that  is  to  say,  on  December  i — the  first  ses- 
sion of  the  Council  was  convened  at  Cokesbury  Col- 
lege, Abingdon,  Md.  As  above  indicated,  it  was  in 
some  sense  a  delegated  body,  being  composed  of  the 
bishops  and  the  presiding  elders.  If  any  one  of  the 
presiding  elders  should  find  it  impossible  to  attend  in 
person,  he  was  requested  to  send  some  other  elder  from 
his  district  as  a  substitute.  It  was  stipulated  that  at 
least  nine  elders  must  be  present  for  valid  legislation. 
If  for  any  reason  the  number  should  fall  short  of  this 
stipulation,  the  bishops  were  instructed  to  fill  the 
vacancies  by  choosing  elders  from  any  quarter. 

The  powers  of  this  Council,  though  apparently  great, 
were  really  very  small ;  for  it  could  not  perfect  legisla- 
tion, but  only  mature  and  frame  suggestions  which,  be- 
fore becoming  laws,  must  be  passed  upon  by  the 
preachers  in  the  yearly  Conferences.  Even  this  it  could 
not  do  without  a  unanimous  vote.  That  was  simply 
going  round  a  circle,  therefore,  and  coming  back  to  the 
same  point.  The  only  advantage  gained  was  the  pos- 
sibility— a  mere  possibility  at  best — that  tlie  sugges- 


Four  Years  More  on  the  Circuit.  53 

tions  of  the  Council  would  carry  so  much  weight  as  to 
be  sure  of  a  kindly  reception  and  ratification  at  the 
hands  of  the  preachers  in  the  Conferences.  The  re- 
sult did  not  justify  even  this  expectation,  but  became 
a  fresh  source  of  wrangling  and  disputation. 

The  men  of  the  first  Council  were  men  of  light  and 
leading.  If  the  Church  had  been  searched  throughout, 
their  superiors  could  not  have  been  found.  They  were : 
Richard  Ivey,  from  Georgia ;  Reuben  Ellis,  South 
Carolina ;  Philip  Bruce,  Northern  District  of  Virginia ; 
James  O'Kelley,  Southern  District  of  Virginia ;  Nel- 
son Reed,  Western  Shore  of  Maryland;  J.  Everett, 
Eastern  Shore;  John  Dickens,  Pennsylvania;  J.  O. 
Cromwell,  New  Jersey;  Freeborn  Garrettson,  New 
York.  But  not  one  of  them  was  chosen  by  the  Confer- 
ences. They  were  members  of  the  Council  by  virtue  of 
their  office.  Bishop  Asbury  gives  a  very  brief  account 
of  the  proceedings.  "All  our  business,"  he  says,  "was 
done  in  harmony  and  love."  This  business  seems  to 
have  related  chiefly  to  the  wants  of  Cokesbury  College, 
the  printing  of  books  and  tracts,  and  the  securing  of 
funds  for  the  sufifering  preachers  on  the  Western  fron- 
tier. That  was  not  a  very  formidable  program,  to  be 
sure.  What  there  was  in  it  to  frighten  anybody,  it  is 
very  difficult  to  see.  Meager  as  it  was  also,  it  was  of 
no  effect  whatever  until  it  should  first  be  carried  round 
by  Bishop  Asbury  for  the  approval  of  the  brethren. 

O'Kelley,  it  will  be  noticed,  was  a  member  of  the 
Council.  He  had  offered  no  objection  to  the  project 
in  the  first  place,  nor  any  to  the  specific  measures  which 
it  had  proposed  for  acceptance  or  rejection.  If  he  had 
been  minded  to  object,  his  one  vote  could  have  stopped 


54  Life  of  William  McKendree. 

everything.  But  he  soon  afterwards  got  it  into  his 
head  that  mischief  was  brewing.  It  is  possible  that  on 
full  reflection  he  saw  or  imagined  that  the  innocent- 
looking  Council  might  develop  into  an  instrument  in 
the  hands  of  an  oligarchy  for  the  oppression  of  the 
Church.  So  he  determined  to  take  up  an  antagonistic 
attitude,  and  he  did  it  at  once.  Traveling  fast,  he 
reached  Virginia  in  advance  of  Asbury,  and  opened 
a  crusade  of  systematic  opposition.  McKendree  fell 
under  his  spell.  Within  a  few  months  the  two 
traveled  together  to  the  Conference,  June  14-20, 
1790,  and  O'Kelley  used  all  his  power  to  poison  the 
mind  of  the  young  man,  not  only  against  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  Council,  but  also  against  Asbury  himself. 
From  any  point  of  view,  it  is  a  pitiful  story.  When  the 
Conference  met,  everything  w^ent  well  until  Asbury, 
as  in  duty  bound,  brought  out  the  budget  from  the 
Council.  It  had  been  agreed  in  advance  by  O'Kelley 
and  his  followers  to  treat  it  with  scant  courtesy.  They 
not  only  repudiated  it,  root  and  branch,  but  "refused 
to  adopt  any  accommodating  plan."  Asbury,  w-ho 
was  too  wise  to  fight  against  such  odds,  behaved  very 
graciously  and  went  right  forward  with  the  customary 
business.  IMcKendree  had  evidently  looked  for  some 
tyrannical  outbreak  from  the  chair,  and  was  not  a  lit- 
tle surprised  at  the  mildness  of  the  Bishop. 

A  taste  of  success  whetted  O'Kelley's  appetite  for 
controversy.  He  put  in  the  larger  part  of  the  next 
year  keeping  up  an  acrimonious  agitation.  Wherever 
he  went  the  burden  of  his  conversation  w-as  that  the 
Church  was  in  danger  of  destruction  ;  that  Asburv  and 
the  leaders  who  sided  with  him — he  called   them   a 


Four  Years  More  on  the  Circuit.  55 

"party" — were  filled  with  a  lust  for  money  and  power ; 
and  that  it  was  imperative  upon  those  who  truly  loved 
God  to  take  steps  for  staying  the  plague.  After  some 
delay,  he  accordingly  called  the  preachers  of  his  dis- 
trict together  at  Mecklenburg  to  consider  the  whole 
situation — a  sort  of  Council  of  his  own.  The  most  of 
them  agreed  with  him,  but  some  dissented.  All  were 
ready  to  demand  the  calling  of  a  General  Conference 
as  the  only  satisfactory  remedy.  The  demand  itself 
was  right  and  wise,  but  the  spirit  which  lay  behind  it 
was  bitter  and  destructive. 

A  second  session  of  the  Council  met  in  Baltimore 
December  i,  1790.  In  view  of  the  ill  success  that  had 
attended  the  efforts  of  the  year  before,  and  of  the  deep 
feeling  that  was  generally  prevalent  in  the  Church,  it 
adjourned  without  making  any  recommendations.  No 
other  session  was  ever  convened,  and  thus  ended  this 
well-meant  but  impotent  attempt  to  deal  with  the  dif- 
ficulties that  grew  out  of  the  very  successes  that  the 
Church  had  achieved.  In  the  meantime  Bishop  Coke 
had  thrown  his  influence  in  favor  of  a  General  Confer- 
ence, one  of  the  wise  things  he  did  among  many  un- 
wise ones.  The  Church  at  large  proved  to  be  of  the 
same  mind;  and  in  November,  1792,  the  General  Con- 
ference met  in  the  city  of  Baltimore. 

McKendree  was  present,  having  gone  up  from 
Greenville  Circuit  in  company  with  O'Kelley,  whose 
wrath  against  Asbury  was  nowise  placated,  though  he 
had  secured  the  object  which  was  supposed  to  be  the 
end  of  his  desires.  By  this  time  McKendree  was 
pretty  thoroughly  saturated  with  the  views  of  his 
elder   and   ready   to    follow   him   in   most   measures. 


56  Life  of  William  McKendrce. 

Though  he  was  now  in  the  fifth  year  of  his  ministry,  he 
does  not  seem  up  to  that  time  to  have  pondered  with 
special  seriousness  the  problems  of  Church  go\'ern- 
ment,  nor  to  have  taken  an  accurate  measurement  of 
the  men  with  whom  he  had  been  intimately  associated. 

Strangely  enough,  there  is  no  official  record  of  this 
General  Conference  of  1792,  though  its  importance  was 
great  enough  to  have  justified  the  most  careful  preser- 
vation of  its  proceedings.  Jesse  Lee,  who  was  pres- 
ent, states  that  it  was  a  large  body  composed  of  men 
from  all  those  parts  of  the  country  to  which  Metli- 
odism  had  spread.  There  was  a  feeling  in  the  air  that 
something  unusual  was  about  to  take  place,  and  some- 
thing did.  After  one  day  in  framing  rules  of  order, 
the  Conference  went  regularly  over  the  whole  Dis- 
cipline with  a  view  to  such  changes  as  might  be  needed. 

O'Kelley  was  loaded  for  Asbury.  He  had  come  up 
for  the  express  purpose  of  putting  a  curb  on  the  epis- 
copacy, and  evidently  expected  to  succeed  in  his  ven- 
ture. The  Conference  of  1784  had  left  the  appoint- 
ment of  the  preachers  in  the  hands  of  the  bishops,  as 
it  had  before  been  in  the  hands  of  Wesley  and  his  chief 
American  assistants.  That  was  the  original  Methodist 
plan.  It  had  worked  well.  O'Kelley  had  no  personal 
ground  of  complaint;  for  ever  since  his  ordination, 
eight  years  before,  he  had  served  continuously  on  one 
district.  But  the  mere  sight  of  power  in  the  hands  of 
other  men  seemed  to  madden  him.  He  would  have 
none  of  it.  So  he  took  an  early  start,  and  on  the  second 
day  proposed  the  following  amendment  to  the  Dis- 
cipline: "After  the  bishop  appoints  the  preachers  at 
Conference  to  their  several  circuits,  if  anv  one  think 


Four  Years  More  on  the  Circuit.  57 

himself  injured  by  his  appointment,  he  shall  have 
liberty  to  appeal  to  the  Conference  and  state  his  objec- 
tions; and  if  the  Conference  approve  his  objections, 
the  bishop  shall  then  appoint  him  to  another  circuit." 

On  the  face  of  it,  nothing  could  be  fairer.  It  is  no 
wonder  that  at  first  a  majority  seemed  to  approve  it. 
But  a  long  debate  followed,  and  there  is  nothing  that 
is  more  illuminating  than  an  honest  debate.  The  state- 
ment is  made  by  contemporary  authority  that  no  sub- 
ject had  ever  before  so  fully  called  forth  all  the  strength 
of  the  preachers.  As  the  Issues  involved  touched 
chiefly  the  administration  of  Bishop  Asbury,  Bishop 
Coke,  who  was  present  on  one  of  his  flying  journeys, 
presided,  and  expressed  his  fair  surprise  at  the  vigor 
and  ability  of  the  disputants.  Dr.  Stevens  says :  "The 
discussion  lasted  nearly  a  week  (to  be  exact,  three 
days).  It  was  the  first  of  those  great  parliamentary 
debates  which  have  given  preeminence  to  the  delibera- 
tive talent  of  the  body.  It  was  led  chiefly  by  O'Kelley, 
Ivey,  Hull,  Garretson,  and  Swift  for  the  affirmative ; 
and  by  Willis,  Lee,  Morell,  Everett,  and  Reed  for  the 
negative — all  chieftains  of  the  itinerancy  and  eloquent 
speakers." 

After  much  discussion,  on  motion  of  John  Dickens, 
the  subject  was  divided  thus:  i.  "Shall  the  bishops 
appoint  the  preachers  to  the  circuits?  2.  Shall  a 
preacher  be  allowed  an  appeal?"  The  first  question 
was  carried  affirmatively  without  opposition.  But  the 
crux  still  remained.  The  negative  argument  which 
seemed  to  have  most  weight  was  that  an  appeal  from 
the  Bishop  to  the  Conference  would  be  Imprac- 
ticable.     Tlioinas    Ware    summarizes    It    as    follows : 


58  Life  of  William  McKendree. 

"Should  one  preacher  appeal,  and  the  Conference  say 
that  his  appointment  should  be  altered,  the  bishop  must 
remove  some  other  one  to  make  room  for  him,  in  which 
case  the  other  might  complain  and  appeal  in  turn." 
Ware  adds  that,  nevertheless,  he  believes  O'Kelley 
might  have  carried  his  point  if  he  had  shown  a  better 
spirit.  Some  of  his  followers  were  very  violent  and 
said:  "It  is  a  shame  for  a  man  to  accept  such  lordship 
as  the  bishops  exercise,  much  more  to  claim  it,  and 
that  they  who  would  submit  to  this  absolute  dominion 
must  forfeit  all  claims  to  freedom  and  ought  to  have 
their  ears  bored  through  with  an  awl  and  be  fastened 
to  their  master's  door  and  become  slaves  for  life." 
Those  old-time  brethren  were  not  always  mild  of 
speech. 

The  outcome  of  it  all  was  that  the  motion  to  give 
the  right  of  appeal  was  lost  by  a  large  majority.  As- 
bury  was  not  elated  by  the  result.  He  knew,  it  is  true, 
that  a  bishop  without  authority  to  fix  the  appointments 
would  become  a  mere  moderator,  and  that  the  itiner- 
ancy would  soon  break  down  under  such  an  arrange- 
ment. But  he  did  not  covet  the  heavy  responsibilities 
that  the  law  imposed  upon  him.  ''I  have  been  much 
grieved  for  others  and  distressed  with  the  burden  I 
bear  and  must  hereafter  bear."  Nor,  I  feel  sure,  has 
he  ever  had  a  successor  in  ofiice  that  would  not  have 
been  glad  to  be  exempt  from  so  heart-crushing  a  duty 
as  that  of  stationing  the  preachers. 

O'Kelley,  who  was  terribly  disappointed  when  his 
seeming  victory  was  turned  into  defeat,  did  not  hesi- 
tate for  a  day  as  to  what  course  he  should  pursue.  The 
next  morning  he  and  a  few  of  his  adherents  addressed 


Four  Years  More  on  the  Circuit.  59 

a  letter  to  the  Conference,  stating  that  they  could  no 
longer  retain  their  seats  in  that  body.  All  possible 
efforts  were  made  to  conciliate  them.  A  committee  of 
three,  including  Freeborn  Garrettson,  who  had  sided 
with  them  in  the  debate,  was  designated  to  visit  him 
and  urge  him  to  reconsider  his  determination;  but  all 
to  no  purpose.  Not  even  an  interview  with  Bishop 
Coke,  who  shared  many  of  his  views,  proved  of  any 
avail.  He  and  his  partisans — those,  that  is,  who  were 
beyond  compromise — left  the  city  before  the  Confer- 
ence adjourned.  Carrying  their  saddlebags,  great- 
coats, and  other  bundles,  they  walked  to  a  place  twelve 
miles  distant  in  the  country,  where  they  had  left  their 
horses,  and  rode  off  home  in  high  dudgeon.  William 
McKendree  was  one  of  the  company.  He  had  become 
convinced  that  O'Kelley's  position  w^as  correct  and  fol- 
lowed his  convictions  honestly,  though  no  doubt  with 
a  sad  heart.  Jesse  Lee,  who  knew  O'Kelley  well,  ex- 
pressed deep  regret  at  seeing  him  go  off  in  such  a 
humor,  because  he  was  sure  that  ''the  old  man"  meant 
mischief. 

On  the  way  to  Virginia  O'Kelley  fully  uncovered  his 
plans  to  his  companions.  He  had  burned  the  bridges 
behind  him  and  would  take  no  backward  steps.  He 
meant  to  organize  an  entirely  new  Church.  It  should 
be  a  glorious  Church  in  every  particular — without 
bishops,  without  slavery,  without  concentration  of  au- 
thority anywhere.  The  program  was  attractive  to 
many  minds,  and  seemed  for  a  time  to  have  in  it  the 
elements  of  success.  But  in  the  long  run  it  came  to 
naught.  For  many  years  it  created  great  disturbances 
in  Virginia  and   North   Carolina.     The   echoes  of  it 


6o  Life  of  William  McKendrcc. 

were  heard  in  the  forests  of  Kentucky  and  Tennessee, 
where  James  Haw,  one  of  the  most  effective  pioneer 
preachers,  was  drawn  off  by  it.  It  arrested,  in  fact, 
for  two  full  quadrenniums  the  growth  of  the  whole 
Church.  But  it  yielded  no  valuable  and  permanent  re- 
sults. The  organization  which  was  effected  at  Mana- 
kintown,  Va.,  in  1793,  with  O'Kelley  taking  the  lead  in 
everything,  had  the  seeds  of  schism  in  itself  and  soon 
split  up  into  several  minor  bodies. 

Jesse  Lee,  writing  in  1809,  says :  "They  have  been 
divided  and  subdivided  till  at  present  it  is  hard  to  find 
two  of  them  that  are  of  one  opinion."  O'Kelley  issued 
pamphlet  after  pamphlet  assailing  Asbury  and  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  Nicholas  Snethen  and 
others  made  vigorous  replies.  Asbury  concluded  to 
take  no  hand  in  the  war  of  words,  though  he  had  gath- 
ered many  documents  for  his  defense.  His  attitude 
was  patient  and  noble.  Referring  to  his  accusers,  he 
said :  'T  bid  such  adieu  and  appeal  to  the  bar  of  God. 
I  have  no  time  to  contend,  having  better  work  to  do. 
If  we  have  lost  some  children,  God  will  give  us  more. 
Ah !  this  is  the  mercy,  the  justice  of  some  who  under 
God  owe  their  all  to  me  and  my  tyrants,  so  called. 
The  Lord  judge  between  them  and  me."  A  few  con- 
gregations yet  remain  that  had  their  origin  in  this 
disastrous  schism ;  but  they  have  always  been  a  mere 
backwater  in  the  Methodist  movement,  without  out- 
look or  influence  upon  the  world,  and  to-day  they  are 
a  negligible  quantity  even  in  the  communities  in  which 
they  at  first  had  their  greatest  show  of  strength. 

Ten  years  after  the  revolt  Asbury  and  O'Kelley  met 
at  Winchester,  Va.,  talked  of  things  indifferently,  but 


Four  Years  More  on  the  Circuit.  6l 

said  nothing  of  their  personal  antagonisms,  prayed, 
and  parted  in  peace.  O'Kelley  survived  till  October 
1 6,  1826,  and  died  in  his  ninety-second  year.  Dr. 
Leroy  M.  Lee  says :  "He  retained  to  the  latest  period 
of  his  life  unabated  confidence  in  the  purity  and  power 
of  his  system.  In  age  and  feebleness  his  hope  in  the 
work  of  his  hands  did  not  desert  him.  He  went  down 
to  the  grave,  according  to  one  of  his  followers,  satisfied 
with  the  past  and  peaceful  and  hopeful  with  respect  to 
the  future." 

But  to  get  back  to  McKendree.  He  was  not  quite 
ready,  even  after  he  left  the  General  Conference,  to 
abandon  the  ship.  He  still  cherished  a  lingering  hope 
for  some  sort  of  adjustment,  though  he  could  not  see 
how  it  was  to  be  brought  about.  A  few  weeks  later — 
that  is,  November  26 — the  Virginia  Conference  met  at 
Manchester,  opposite  Richmond.  iMcKendree  was  not 
present.  Bishop  Paine  says  :  "The  interval  between  the 
General  and  Annual  Conferences  was  too  short  to  af- 
ford time  for  the  removal  of  the  feeling  excited  at  the 
former.  Sympathizing  deeply  with  his  old  and  ap- 
parently his  best  friend,  imperfectly  acquainted  with 
the  subject  of  Church  government,  and  with  the  do- 
cility almost  of  a  child  confiding  in  the  representation 
of  Mr.  Asbury's  character  and  of  the  consequences 
likely  to  result  to  the  Church  from  the  action  of  the 
General  Conference  as  instilled  into  his  mind  by  Mr. 
O'Kelley,  McKendree  respectfully  wrote  to  the  Con- 
ference, declining  to  take  an  appointment  for  the  en- 
suing year." 

When  the  Conference  was  ended,  Bishop  Asbury, 
who  was   sleeplessly  vigilant   for  the  welfare  of  the 


62  Life  of  William  McKcndrce. 

Church,  set  out  on  a  tour  of  visitation  through  the 
disaffected  region  of  the  State,  including  especially 
what  had  long  been  O'Kelley's  district.  That  was  a 
wise  piece  of  strateg}%  well  conceived  and  well  exe- 
cuted. It  brought  him  soon  into  the  neighborhood  of 
McKendree's  home.  The  two  met  in  a  friendly  and 
pleasant  spirit,  with  the  result  that  when  the  Bishop 
passed  on  McKendree  went  with  him,  by  special  re- 
quest, as  his  traveling  companion  for  a  few  weeks. 
The  outcome  of  this  jaunt  might  have  been  easily 
foreseen.  McKendree  gained  an  entirely  new  point 
of  view.  He  came  to  see  that  Asbury,  instead  of 
being  an  ambitious  tyrant,  full  of  plans  for  his  OAvn 
aggrandizement,  was  really  a  modest  and  gentle  Chris- 
tian man,  bent  solely  on  the  welfare  of  the  Church 
and  the  glory  of  God.  "It  gradually  dawned  on 
him,  too,  that  the  adoption  of  O'Kelley's  late  favorite 
measure  meant  the  ruin  of  the  general  superintendency 
and  of  the  whole  itinerant  system.  The  spell  of  the 
enchantress  was  broken.  Humbled  and  mortified  at 
his  own  weakness,  with  characteristic  candor  he  con- 
fessed his  error,  was  received  again  into  the  confidence 
of  the  warm-hearted  old  Bishop,  and  was  at  once  sent 
to  the  city  of  Norfolk.  This  was  the  amount  of  Mc- 
Kendree's  defection.  His  itinerancy  was  temporarily 
suspended  at  his  own  request ;  but  after  about  a  month 
he  resumed  his  position  and  his  work  in  the  ranks  with 
his  late  associates,  having  become  a  wiser  man." 

The  work  at  Norfolk  proved  to  be  pleasant  enough, 
except  that  there  was  a  good  deal  of  agitation  created 
by  the  withdrawal  of  O'Kelley's  partisans  from  the 
Church.     McKendree  bears  testimonv  to  the  fact  that 


Four  Years  More  on  the  Circuit.  63 

the  grace  of  God  was  sufficient  for  him  in  the  midst  of 
his  perplexities :  "On  this  critical  station  the  Lord  was 
singularly  good  to  me.  In  the  midst  of  my  confusion 
I  had  access  to  the  throne  of  grace  and  was  enabled 
to  preach.  Mercy  and  power  attended  the  word,  and 
the  people  were  blessed,  so  that  I  had  refreshing  cor- 
dials in  the  midst  of  many  bitter  draughts."  Ira  Ellis 
was  his  presiding  elder  and  helped  him  mightily  in 
every  way.  To  use  McKendree's  own  words :  "He  was 
a  comfort  to  me.  From  him  I  obtained  information 
and  counsel  which  were  of  inestimable  value  to  me  in 
my  dilemma."  This  Ira  Ellis  was  a  Virginian.  He 
entered  the  itinerancy  in  1781  and  continued  in  it  for 
thirteen  years,  locating  in  1795  on  account  of  domestic 
necessities.  His  ministry  reached  all  the  way  from 
Pennsylvania  to  South  Carolina  and  everywhere  com- 
manded great  respect.  Asbury,  who  was  not  effusive 
in  praise,  pays  him  this  high  tribute:  "He  was  a  man 
of  quick  and  solid  parts.  I  have  thought,  had  fortune 
given  him  the  same  advantages  of  education,  he  would 
have  displayed  abilities  not  inferior  to  Jefferson  or 
Madison.  But  he  had  what  is  better  than  learning: 
he  had  undissembled  sincerity,  great  modesty,  deep 
fidelity,  great  ingenuity,  and  uncommon  power  of 
reasoning.  He  was  a  good  man,  of  even  temper." 
Nothing  could  have  been  more  fortunate  for  McKen- 
dree  than  to  be  thrown  into  close  association  with  such 
a  man. 

The  Conference  met  at  Petersburg  November  25, 

1793,  with  fifty-five  preachers  present,  Bishop  Asbury 

again  presiding.     For  some  reason  or  other,  which, 

of  course,  is  not  disclosed  in  the  minutes,  McKendree 

5 


64  Life  of  IVilliain  McKcndrce. 

was  moved  to  Union  Circuit,  in  South  Carolina.  Ke 
had  never  before  labored  outside  of  his  native  State 
nor  traveled  beyond  its  bounds,  except  occasionally  into 
Maryland.  If  he  lost  the  blessing  of  close  companion- 
ship with  Ira  Ellis  by  this  change,  he  fell  into  the 
equally  good  hands  of  Philip  Bruce,  who  was  presiding 
elder  on  the  new  district.  Bruce  was  a  North  Carolin- 
ian. His  name  looks  and  sounds  Scotch,  but  it  was  orig- 
inally De  Bruise.  He  was  of  Huguenot  ancestry.  He 
had  been  a  soldier  of  the  Revolution.  Joining  the  Vir- 
ginia Conference  on  probation  in  1781,  he  remained 
thirty-six  years  in  the  itinerancy.  In  1817  he  took  a 
superannuate  relation  and  removed  to  Tennessee  to 
spend  his  closing  days  with  his  kindred,  who  had  pre- 
ceded him  thither.  In  every  station  that  he  occupied 
he  showed  great  ability  and  great  consecration.  But 
for  his  advanced  age.  he  would  probably  have  been 
elected  to  the  episcopacy  in  1816.  After  the  lapse  of  a 
centur}-  the  memory  of  his  name  is  still  a  pleasant  odor 
in  all  the  fields  in  which  he  labored.  For  one  quarter 
of  this  year  McKendrce  was  the  traveling  companion 
of  Bishop  Asbury,  his  place  on  the  circuit  being  sup- 
plied by  Tobias  Gibson,  the  same  who  afterwards  be- 
came the  founder  of  Methodism  in  ^lississippi. 

For  several  years  now  there  had  been  separate  Con- 
ferences in  \'irginia,  North  Carolina,  and  South  Caro- 
lina ;  but  on  December  25,  1794,  all  the  itinerants  in 
these  three  States,  about  eighty  in  number,  met  at  Mrs. 
Mabry's,  in  Greenville  County,  \'a.  It  was  perhaps 
the  largest  Annual  Conference  that  had  ever  met  in 
America,  and  it  embraced  a  good  deal  of  ability  and 
weight.    McKendree  got  still  another  long  move,  this 


Four  Years  More  on  the  Circuit.  65 

time  to  Botetourt,  in  Southwest  Virginia,  with  John 
Kobler  as  his  presiding  elder.  The  two  were  to  be 
true  yokefellows  again,  after  the  lapse  of  some  years, 
in  the  far  West.  Dr.  Stevens  states  that  this  year  he 
really  had  four  circuits  under  his  care,  traveling  each 
of  them  for  one  quarter ;  but  I  can  find  no  confirmation 
of  the  statement  elsewhere.  On  this  and  on  the  pre- 
ceding circuit  McKendree's  diary  fails  us,  much  to  our 
regret.  But  we  know  that  here,  as  elsewhere,  he  meas- 
ured up  to  all  his  responsibilities.  After  this  he  was 
to  travel  circuits  no  more,  but  was  to  be  set  in  a  larger 
sphere  and  to  be  charged  with  weightier  obligations, 
which  could  not  have  been  the  case  if  there  had  been 
any  weakening  of  his  intellectual  or  spiritual  qualities 
or  any  diminution  in  the  volume  and  excellency  of 
his  activities.  As  a  circuit  pastor  he  had  "purchased 
to  himself  a  good  degree  and  great  boldness  in  the 
faith."  It  was  full  time  for  him  to  move  up.  'Thou 
hast  been  faithful  over  a  few  things,  I  will  make  thee 
ruler  over  many  things." 


CHAPTER  VI. 
First  Five  Years  in  the  Presiding  Eldership. 

As  intimated  in  the  close  of  the  last  chapter,  Mc- 
Kendree  was  now  about  to  enter  upon  a  wider  field  of 
bbor  than  any  he  had  hitherto  occupied.  Having  been 
fully  tested  in  many  places  as  a  circuit  preacher,  and 
having  been  found  competent  and  faithful  on  all  the 
ground,  he  was  deemed  worthy  to  be  invested  with  the 
duties  and  responsibilities  of  the  presiding  eldership. 
This  office,  which  has  become  one  of  the  badges  of 
Episcopal  Methodism,  had  grown  up  in  a  natural  and 
orderly  way.  Nobody  designed  it  in  advance.  It  was 
not  a  piece  of  a  preconceived  ecclesiastical  machinery. 
It  came  providentially,  and  because  it  filled  a  felt 
want  it  remained  and  abides  to  this  day.  At  the 
Christmas  Conference  of  1784  only  a  few  of  the 
preachers  were  elected  and  ordained  elders.  There 
was  not  the  slightest  disposition  to  lay  hands  suddenly 
and  indiscriminately  on  just  anybody  that  might  desire 
it.  Those  who  were  supposed  to  be  the  most  compe- 
tent were  picked  out  for  this  distinction.  On  the  whole, 
the  results  justified  the  choice  that  was  made.  The 
names  of  John  Tunnell,  William  Gill,  Leroy  Cole,  Nel- 
son Reed,  John  Haggerty,  Reuben  Ellis,  Richard  Ivey, 
Henry  Willis,  James  O'Kelley,  and  Beverly  Allen  be- 
came known  throughout  the  entire  Church,  though  the 
last  two  failed  to  fulfill  the  expectations  that  were  en- 
tertained conceming  them. 

These  picked  men  were  judiciously  distributed  in 
(66) 


First  Five  Years  in  the  Presiding  Eldership.     67 

every  part  of  the  country  to  which  Methodism  had 
spread,  that  they  might  be  able  to  administer  the  sacra- 
ments with  reasonable  regularity  in  all  the  circuits. 
By  successive  steps  their  work  was  enlarged  until  it 
became  one  of  general  oversight,  and  after  1792  they 
were  formally  designated  as  presiding  elders.  The 
title,  indeed,  had  been  occasionally  used  prior  to  that 
time,  but  not  regularly.  Thenceforward  it  had  an  ac- 
credited standing  in  Methodist  terminology.  Our 
brethren  beyond  the  Ohio  have  swapped  it  off  In  re- 
cent years  for  district  superintendent.  If  they  are 
pleased  with  the  change,  nobody  else  has  a  right  to 
object;  but  I  sincerely  hope  that  my  ow^n  Church  will 
not  follow  the  example.  Presiding  elder  is  Biblical, 
ecclesiastical,  historical.  It  has  a  fixed  and  definite 
meaning,  whereas  the  five-syllabled  "superintendent" 
is  not  only  awkward  on  the  lips,  but  may  have  any 
one  of  several  distinct  significations.  The  Wesleyans 
shorten  their  superintendents  to  supers.  If  that  ab- 
breviation should  become  common  In  America,  it  will 
be  an  additional  reason  for  adhering  to  the  old  name. 

The  office  Itself  has  been  one  of  much  consequence. 
In  every  generation  It  has  been  held  by  many  men  of 
might.  Merely  to  call  the  roll  of  really  great  presiding 
elders  would  take  much  more  space  than  I  can  spare. 
It  must  be  admitted  that  the  critics  of  the  office  have 
not  been  few  nor  gentle.  First  and  last,  they  have 
stirred  up  a  good  deal  of  opposition,  and  they  are  still 
at  work.  The  most  of  them  are  men  who  have  not 
themselves  been  called  to  preside.  They  tell  us  that, 
whatever  may  have  been  the  case  In  the  past,  there  can 
certainly  be  no  reason  nowadays   for  burdening  the 


68  Life  of  JVilliam  McKendree, 

Church  with  the  expense  of  a  needless  supervision; 
and  they  do  say  now  and  then  that  the  office  has  be- 
come a  sort  of  city  of  refuge  for  broken-down  or  in- 
capable pastors.  There  may  be  some  truth  in  these 
allegations,  but  not  enough  to  give  them  great  weight. 
Anyhow,  if  there  is  nothing  the  matter  with  the  pre- 
siding eldership  except  the  presiding  elders,  that  is  a 
condition  that  can  be  remedied  by  wiser  appointments. 
My  own  opinion  is  that,  in  spite  of  changed  conditions, 
the  presiding  eldership  never  before  had  in  it  such 
potencies  for  good  as  it  has  at  the  present  time.  Only 
fill  it  with  the  right  sort  of  men,  and  it  will  continue 
to  be  one  of  the  most  important  pieces  of  our  polity. 
Laying  all  other  considerations  aside,  it  is  a  necessary 
adjunct  of  the  episcopacy.  The  two  are  boimd  to 
stand  or  fall  together.  If  one  goes,  the  other  will  not 
be  far  behind  it.  Whether  the  episcopacy  is  worth 
keeping  is  a  question  that  may  itself  raise  much  debate. 
But  in  case  we  desire  to  retain  It,  we  must  hold  fast  to 
the  presiding  eldership  also.  Bishop  McTyeIre  says 
weightily :  'Tt  was  a  great  step  forward  in  the  efficient 
and  thorough  organization  of  iNIethodism  as  an  Episco- 
pal Oiurch  when  this  office,  with  its  place  and  powers, 
was  defined.  .  .  .  The  presiding  elders  are  the  sup- 
plement of  the  itinerant  general  superintendency ; 
without  them  It  would  be  Impracticable  on  a  continental 
scale.  They  complete  the  local  supervision  and  make 
the  general  one  possible." 

At  the  session  of  the  Virginia  Conference  which  met 
at  Salem  Chapel,  Mecklenburg  County,  November  24, 
1795,  Bishop  Asbury,  who  had,  as  he  often  showed, 
a  keen   sense   for   picking  men   with   a   capacity   for 


First  Five  Years  in  the  Presiding  Eldership.      69 

leadership,  appointed  McKendree  to  a  district  which 
stretched  from  the  Chesapeake  Bay  northward  and 
westward  over  the  Bhie  Ridge  and  the  Alleghany 
Mountains,  and  included  a  large  stretch  of  country  on 
the  Western  waters.  Fifty  of  the  North  African 
bishoprics  of  Augustine's  time  might  have  been  in- 
cluded in  it,  All  that  part  of  it  lying  close  to  the  bay 
was  in  the  oldest  part  of  the  State.  But  the  most  of 
it  back  toward  and  beyond  the  mountains  was  new, 
rough,  and  thinly  inhabited,  with  such  general  condi- 
tions of  living  as  made  it  far  from  being  an  inviting 
field  to  any  except  a  truly  heroic  minister.  To  dwell 
upon  details  is  not  necessary,  but  it  may  be  well  to 
point  out  a  few  things.  All  traveling  was  by  horse- 
back. Roads  and  bridges  were  few  and  of  inferior 
character.  Hotels  were  scarcely  known.  The  private 
houses,  though  usually  open  to  strangers,  were  not  tidy 
nor  comfortable.  In  the  remotest  mountain  sections 
they  were  often  lacking  in  common  decency.  It  was 
no  easy  task  that  McKendree  faced.  But  he  was  a 
seasoned  soldier,  a  true  veteran;  and  neither  toil  nor 
hardship  nor  peril  could  daunt  him.  On  this  post  he 
remained  three  full  years.  His  nominal  salary  was 
$64  per  annum,  but  it  never  actually  reached  much 
more  than  half  that  sum.  His  memorandum  book 
shows  his  receipts  with  scrupulous  carefulness.  He 
kept  his  accorunts  as  rigidly  as  if  he  had  been  handling 
thousands.  But  nobody  ever  heard  a  cry  of  poverty 
from  his  lips.  His  wants  were  simple.  He  did  not  de- 
sire many  things.  What  he  could  not  pay  for  out  of 
his  slender  stipend  he  did  without.  If  he  had  had  a 
wife  and  children,  it  would  have  been  his  duty  to  look 


70  Life  of  William  McKendree. 

after  their  comfort;  but,  as  he  was  a  bachelor,  he  had 
the  right  to  carry  self-denial  to  the  last  limit. 

In  the  meanwhile  he  was  constantly  gaining  in 
breadth  and  maturity  of  judgment,  in  power  to  deal 
wisely  and  easily  with  men  and  things,  and  in  the 
depth  and  reach  of  his  religious  experience.  Bishop 
Soule,  who  never  spoke  without  duly  measuring  his 
words,  says  in  the  discourse  which  he  delivered  on  the 
occasion  of  McKendree's  death :  "The  oversight  of  the 
district  in  the  administration  of  the  Discipline  was 
conducted  with  great  wisdom  and  prudence  and  to  the 
satisfaction  of  the  preachers  and  members.  The 
spirit  of  schism  which  had  previously  prevailed  in 
some  parts  of  the  district  greatly  subsided,  and  the 
love  of  union,  peace,  and  order  was  revived.'*  That 
was  just  what  we  should  naturally  have  expected  when 
McKendree  was  in  charge.  He  was  himself  the  in- 
carnation of  system  and  order,  and  he  carried  with 
him  wherever  he  went  the  spirit  and  disposition  of  the 
peacemaker.  His  own  record,  while  very  modest,  is  a 
little  more  ample.  He  says :  "I  was  blessed  with  many 
friends,  abundant  in  kindness,  and  some  of  them  able 
counselors.  We  were  blessed  with  a  revival  of  re- 
ligion. Alany  professed  to  obtain  regenerating  grace 
and  joined  the  Church.  The  members  provoked  one 
another  to  love  and  to  good  works,  and  their  advance- 
ment in  the  divine  life  was  evident.  The  abundant 
labors  and  cares  which  the  charge  imposed  were  too 
great  for  my  strength.  My  studies  were,  therefore, 
partially  prevented  by  attention  to  other  branches  of 
duty,  and  my  nervous  system  was  otherwise  impaired. 
But  I  was  abundantly  compensated  by  having  intimate 


First  Five  Years  in  the  Presiding  Eldership.      71 

union  and  communion  with  my  adorable  Saviour,  and 
the  increasing  prosperity  of  the  Church  at  once  in- 
vigorated my  zeal  and  increased  my  joy." 

In  1799,  for  some  reason  that  is  nowhere  stated,  Mc- 
Kendree  was  removed  from  his  district  in  the  Virginia 
Conference  to  a  contiguous  one  in  the  Baltimore  Con- 
ference. His  new  field  was  not  quite  so  large  as  the 
old  one,  though  it  was  large  enough  in  all  conscience. 
It  reached  from  the  Chesapeake  across  the  Blue  Ridge, 
but  stopped  at  the  western  foothills  of  the  Alleghanies. 
As  his  health  had  not  been  robust,  it  may  have  been 
the  purpose  of  Bishop  Asbury  to  lessen  somewhat  the 
measure  of  his  necessary  activities.  This  is  simply  a 
surmise  and  may  have  nothing  in  it.  Even  in  his 
narrower  limits  McKendree  had  no  time  for  idleness 
nor  even  for  much  rest.  He  tells  us  that  the  year  was 
"full  of  trials."  There  is  no  easy  place  for  a  con- 
scientious minister  of  Christ's  gospel.  But  McKendree 
found  grace  and  strength  according  to  his  day  and 
need.  Speaking  of  the  difficulties  that  compassed  him 
about,  he  declares :  *'They  were  forgotten  in  over- 
whelming communion  with  God  and  reviving  inter- 
views with  my  followers.  Here  I  found  fathers  and 
mothers  in  Israel  by  whose  example  I  was  edified  and 
comforted."  In  the  spring  of  1800  he  was  retrans- 
ferred  to  the  same  district  in  the  Virginia  Conference 
from  which  he  had  been  taken  the  year  before.  This, 
of  course,  was  not  done  without  reason ;  but  as  the 
nature  of  the  reason  is  nowhere  set  down,  it  is  useless 
to  look  for  it.  The  Methodist  chronicles  of  those  days 
are,  as  a  usual  thing,  extremely  concise  and  often  leave 


'^z  Life  of  William  McKendree. 

us  guessing  about  things  in  regard  to  which  we  should 
be  glad  to  have  exact  knowledge. 

That  iMcKendree  attended  the  General  Conference 
which  met  in  May,  1800,  in  the  city  of  Baltimore,  is 
certain.  Henry  Boehm  mentions  in  his  journal  the 
fact  that  he  saw  him  there.  The  Journal  of  the  Confer- 
ence also  reveals  his  presence,  but  it  does  not  show 
that  he  was  very  active  in  the  proceedings.  Dr. 
Stevens  calls  attention  to  only  one  matter  in  regard  to 
which  he  participated.  As  usual  in  IMethodist  assem- 
blies of  those  days,  there  was  a  good  deal  of  feeling  on 
the  subject  of  slavery.  Nicholas  Snethen,  a  great  man, 
but  always  a  radical,  moved :  "That  this  General  Con- 
ference do  resolve  that  from  this  time  forth  no  slave- 
holders shall  be  admitted  into  the  ^lethodist  Episcopal 
Church."  William  Ormond,  of  North  Carolina,  was 
of  much  the  same  mind.  Ezekiel  Cooper  suggested  a 
more  conservative  course:  "That  a  committee  be  ap- 
pointed to  prepare  an  affectionate  address  to  the  Meth- 
odist societies  of  the  United  States,  stating  the  evils  of 
the  spirit  and  practice  of  slavery  and  the  nccessit}'  of 
doing  away  with  the  evil  as  far  as  the  laws  of  the 
respective  States  will  allow,"  etc.  William  McKendree, 
practicable  and  sensible  as  always,  moved :  "That  this 
General  Conference  direct  the  yearly  Conferences  to 
appoint  a  committee  to  draw  up  proper  addresses  to  the 
State  legislatures  from  year  to  year  for  the  gradual 
abolition  of  slavery."  Instead  of  mere  generalizations 
concerning  the  evils  of  the  institution,  he  proposed  a 
feasible  plan  for  mitigating  them.    That  was  like  him. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Set  over  the  Forces  in  the  Great  West. 

When  the  General  Conference  of  1800  came  to  an 
end,  McKendree  promptly  returned  to  his  district  in 
Virginia.  But  he  was  not  to  stay  there  very  long.  In 
the  early  autumn  of  the  same  year  Bishops  Asbury  and 
Whatcoat  paid  him  a  visit  in  the  Greenbrier  country 
on  their  way  to  what  was  then  called  the  Great  West. 
Whatcoat  had  just  been  elected  to  the  episcopacy  and 
was  making  his  first  round  in  company  with  his  sen- 
ior colleague.  He  was  one  of  the  two  elders  whom 
Wesley  ordained  in  England  in  1784  and  sent  over  to 
America  in  company  with  Bishop  Coke,  Thomas  Vasey 
being  the  other.  He  was  not  a  man  of  uncommon  in- 
tellect, nor  had  he  rendered  any  signal  service  to  the 
Connection.  Besides,  he  was  now  nearly  sixty-five 
years  of  age  and  by  no  means  robust  In  health.  That 
he  should  have  been  chosen  over  the  brilliant  and  quick- 
witted Jesse  Lee,  who  had  served  with  distinction  in 
many  fields  and  had  especially  led  the  way  into  New 
England,  is  one  of  those  events  that  defy  full  explana- 
tion. Nevertheless,  there  are  some  considerations  that 
throw  light  upon  it.  The  piety  of  Whatcoat  was  be- 
yond doubt  and  was,  indeed,  of  that  higher  quality  that 
Is  fairly  entitled  to  be  called  saintliness.  Speaking  of 
his  ordination,  Henry  Boehm  says :  "Never  were  holy 
hands  laid  upon  a  holier  head."  At  the  time  of  his 
death,  six  years  later,  Asbury  declared :  "A  man  so 

(73) 


74  Life  of  William  McKendree. 

uniformly  good  I  have  not  known  in  Europe  or  Ameri- 
ca." Besides,  he  was  a  preacher  of  great  power  and 
pathos.  The  fact  that  Wesley  had  suggested  him  for 
the  general  super intendency  as  far  back  as  1792  had 
no  doubt  something  to  do  with  his  being  chosen  now. 
It  is  also  probable  that  Asbury  desired  him  and  let 
fall  some  words  to  that  effect.  The  report  got  out 
that  he  had  gone  further  and  spoken  disparagingly  of 
Lee,  but  he  afterwards  denied  it  in  a  letter.  Further- 
more, it  appears  likely  that  to  some  extent  personal 
jealousies  entered  into  the  election.  Good  men  as  they 
were,  the  primitive  Methodist  preachers  were  still  de- 
cidedly human.  The  very  qualities  that  made  Lee  so 
popular  with  the  people  had  the  natural  effect  of  arous- 
ing the  antipathies  of  some  of  his  slow-going  brethren. 
Envy  loves  a  shining  mark.  It  took  three  ballots  to 
determine  the  result.  On  the  second  ballot  there  was 
a  tie  vote,  and  on  the  third  Whatcoat  had  a  majority 
of  four.  Bishop  Coke,  w'ho  always  turned  up  at  the 
General  Conferences,  preached  the  ordination  sermon, 
and  both  he  and  Asbury  joined  in  the  laying  on  of 
hands.  Whatcoat  did  not  shine  in  his  new  position. 
He  lacked  initiative.  But  he  made  a  good  assistant 
bishop  to  Asbury,  preached  with  great  acceptability 
wherever  he  went,  led  a  beautiful  and  holy  life,  and 
in  1806  came  to  a  triumphant  end  at  the  home  of  his 
long-time  friend.  Judge  Bassett,  in  Delaware. 

As  above  indicated,  the  two  bishops  now  traveled 
together,  as  they  often  did.  It  was  not  an  accident 
that  brought  them  into  McKendrec's  territory.  They 
had  important  business  with  him.  For  nearly  ten  years 
the  work  had  been  lagging  in  Kentucky  and  Tennessee, 


Set  over  the  Forces  in  the  Great  West.  75 

and  a  man  was  needed  who  could  rally  and  organize 
the  forces  for  an  aggressive  campaign.  That  Mc- 
Kendree  was  the  very  man  for  the  place,  the  bishops 
had  no  doubt.  In  the  whole  range  of  their  acquaint- 
ance they  knew  no  other  one  so  competent  to  succeed 
poor  Francis  Poythress,  over  whose  brilliant  mind  the 
veil  of  insanity  was  already  beginning  to  fall.  Whether 
the  thought  of  changing  fields  had  ever  before  entered 
McKendree's  mind,  we  are  not  informed.  But  it 
did  not  take  him  long  to  reach  a  conclusion.  He  be- 
came convinced  that  the  call  of  the  bishops  was  an  in- 
dication of  Providence,  and  he  accepted  it  without  hesi- 
tation. Bishop  McTyeire  says  of  him:  "He  was  ac- 
customed to  keep  house  in  his  saddlebags.  It  was  said 
that  he  could  pack  more  in  them  and  in  better  order 
than  other  men.  He  therefore  went  at  three  hours' 
notice."  Writing  of  the  incident  long  afterwards,  he 
himself  said :  *T  was  without  money,  books,  or  clothes. 
These  were  at  a  distance,  and  I  had  no  time  to  go 
after  them ;  but  I  was  not  in  debt,  therefore  unem- 
barrassed. Of  money  due  me,  I  collected  one  hundred 
dollars,  bought  cloth  for  a  coat,  carried  it  to  Holston, 
and  left  it  with  a  tailor  in  the  bounds  of  my  new  dis- 
trict. The  bishops  continued  their  course.  My  busi- 
ness was  to  look  after  them  and  wait  on  them,  for  they 
were  both  infirm  old  men."  Asbury  was  only  fifty-five 
and  Whatcoat  about  sixty-five.  The  service  which  Mc- 
Kendree  rendered  his  elder  brethren  then  and  often 
afterwards  was  nowise  exacted,  but  was  a  free  and  glad 
courtesy.  No  man  ever  had  a  juster  estimate  of  the 
value  of  gentlemanliness.  Whenever  opportunity  of- 
fered he  displayed  it  to  others,  and  he  was  always 


"jG  Life  of  William  McKcndrcc. 

deeply  touched  when  it  was  shown  to  him.  Writing  of 
a  kind  family  that  had  entertained  him  in  his  earlier 
ministry,  he  says :  *'I  am  more  and  more  convinced  that 
good  manners  are  an  accomplishment  next  to  grace." 
And  by  good  manners  he  meant  the  kind  of  conduct 
that  springs  from  a  good  and  gentle  heart. 

^IcKendree  was  not  utterly  unacquainted  with  the 
border,  but  he  had  never  lived  in  the  interior  of  the 
West.  He  w-as  now  about  to  pass,  therefore,  into  a 
new  world  and  was  to  spend  the  greater  part  of  his 
remaining  days  beyond  the  mountains.  He  was  forty- 
three  years  old,  in  the  very  prime  and  glory  of  his 
manhood,  strong  of  body,  alert  of  mind,  and  fully  con- 
secrated to  the  work  of  preaching  the  gospel.  Without 
reserve,  he  was  ready  to  throw  himself  into  the  surging 
life  of  that  great  empire  that  was  growing  up  in  the 
Mississippi  Valley.  The  man  and  the  occasion  were 
surely  met — a  mighty  man  and  a  great  occasion.  More 
than  anybody  could  see  at  the  time  God  was  in  it. 

The  three  itinerants  moved  on  through  Southwest 
Virginia  and  East  Tennessee,  following  for  at  least 
two  hundred  miles  almost  the  present  track  of  the  Nor- 
folk and  Western  and  Southern  Railways.  At  Liberty, 
the  county  seat  of  Bedford  County,  which  they  reached 
on  September  14,  they  were  met  by  a  great  and  curious 
throng;  and  Asbury,  though  far  from  well,  preached 
in  the  courthouse.  Thanks  to  his  Journal,  it  is  possible 
for  us  to  follow  them  from  that  point.  Their  way  took 
them  by  Wythevillc,  then  a  pleasant  village  of  twenty 
houses,  Russell's  old  place  near  Seven  Mile  Ford,  Ab- 
ingdon (just  beginning  to  show  signs  of  growth),  and 
thence  past  what  is  now  Bristol  to  Edward  Cox's,  on 


Set  over  the  Forces  in  the  Great  West.  yy 

the  Holston  River  and  ten  miles  within  the  Tennessee 
line.  Asbury  had  been  welcomed  in  the  home  of  that 
good  Maryland  Methodist  when  he  first  crossed  the 
mountains  twelve  years  before  from  the  Carolinas,  and 
he  never  afterwards  missed  a  chance  to  enjoy  its  gen- 
erous and  refreshing  entertainment.  From  Cox's,  by 
a  rather  circuitous  route,  he  and  his  friends  made 
another  stage  of  fifty-five  or  sixty  miles  to  Van  Pelt's, 
on  Lick  Creek,  in  Greene  County.  Here  was  another 
of  his  "homes."  Van  Pelt  was  a  local  preacher,  an 
early  pioneer  from  New  York  into  that  community. 
His  hospitality  knew  no  bounds,  and  he  counted  it  one 
of  the  honors  of  his  life  to  entertain  these  distinguished 
servants  of  the  Lord. 

Up  to  this  point  the  bishops  had  ridden  for  the  most 
part  in  an  old  chaise,  while  McKendree  kept  to  the 
back  of  his  horse.  This  chaise  is  elsewhere  said  to 
have  cost  originally  thirty  dollars ;  but  it  must  have 
been  of  stout  workmanship  to  stand  the  roads  over 
which  it  was  driven.  Indeed,  it  did  now  and  then 
break  down  and  had  to  be  propped  and  buttressed  with 
strong  saplings  till  it  could  be  got  to  the  next  black- 
smith shop.  At  Van  Pelt's  it  was  left  behind,  being 
totally  unfit  for  the  rest  of  the  road.  An  extra  horse 
was  also  borrowed  of  the  kindly  host;  and  after  the 
delay  of  a  few  days,  the  final  stage  of  the  journey  was 
begun. 

Turning  a  little  west  of  north,  they  rode  first  to 
Stubblefield's,  near  the  line  between  Grainger  and 
Hawkins  Counties,  where  they  attended  a  Quarterly 
Conference  and  preached.  This  leads  me  to  say  that 
they  missed  no  opportunity  to  preach  along  their  en- 


78  Life  of  William  McKendree. 

tire  way.  That  was  their  main  business,  and  they  had  a 
perfect  passion  for  it.  About  thirty-five  or  forty  miles 
farther  on  was  Cumberland  Gap,  to  which  all  roads 
leading  to  the  west  converged.  It  is  a  natural  depres- 
sion in  the  mountains  and  was  first  discovered  in  1748 
by  Dr.  Thomas  Walker  and  a  company  of  Virginia  ex- 
plorers, w^ho  promptly  named  it,  as  well  as  the  moun- 
tains themselves  and  the  river  beyond,  after  the  Duke 
of  Cumberland,  who  had  then  recently  put  down  the 
Young  Pretender  at  Culloden.  From  the  Gap  their  way 
led  on  through  the  "wilderness"  proper,  a  rough  and 
lonely  section,  and  the  lovely  blue-grass  region,  that 
American  Arcadia,  to  Bethel  Academy,  on  the  Ken- 
tucky River,  where  the  Conference  was  to  meet. 

The  whole  distance  from  Greenbrier  to  this  point, 
including  the  detours,  w^as  not  much,  if  any,  less  than 
four  hundred  and  fifty  miles  and  had  consumed  more 
than  three  weeks.  The  most  of  it  was  not  new  to  As- 
bury.  He  had  visited  Kentucky  at  least  thrice  before, 
beginning  in  1790.  At  that  time  also  Whatcoat  was 
his  companion.  They  then  reached  the  Gap  by  a  direct 
route  from  General  Russell's,  passing  down  almost  the 
whole  length  of  Powell's  Valley.  The  story  of  that 
earlier  journey  reads  like  a  romance  touched  with 
tragedy.  Eight  armed  men  came  across  the  moimtains 
to  meet  them  and  escort  them  back.  Eight  others 
joined  the  company  on  the  return.  Of  these  sixteen 
men,  thirteen  carried  guns  and  would  have  been  able  to 
give  a  good  account  of  themselves  in  a  fight.  At  every 
step  they  were  in  danger  of  assault  from  roving  In- 
dians.    On  the  roadside  they  counted  the  graves  of 


Set  over  the  Forces  in  the  Great  West.  79 

twenty-four  persons  lately  massacred.  It  took  seven  or 
eight  days  from  the  Gap  to  Lexington. 

I  have  stood  in  the  great  Gap  and  have  set  my  imagi- 
nation to  work  to  recall  the  pioneer  days.  Before  my 
eyes  have  passed  as  in  a  mighty  procession  the  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  men,  women,  and  children,  de- 
filing on  foot  or  on  horseback,  or  later  still  in  covered 
wagons,  through  the  friendly  opening  in  search  of  new 
and  better  homes  for  themselves  and  their  posterity, 
with  brave  Daniel  Boone  marching  erect  and  steady  at 
the  head  of  the  column;  and  I  have  been  mightily 
stirred  as  I  thought  upon  the  significance  of  this  racial 
movement.  Once  I  was  conversing  about  it  with  the 
brilliant  young  scholar  (not  so  young  now),  Professor 
Turner,  of  the  University  of  Wisconsin,  W'hen  he  sud- 
denly turned  on  me  with  a  lighted  face  and  said :  *'I 
shall  never  be  satisfied  till  I  can  go  to  Abingdon,  in 
Virginia,  and  take  the  wilderness  trace  horseback  to 
Lexington,  Ky." 

The  pioneer  preachers  who  moved  here  and  there 
in  the  throng  were  animated  by  different  motives  from 
those  which  controlled  the  majority.  They  were  not 
on  the  lookout  for  homes  and  lands.  Their  only  de- 
sire was  to  reach  and  save  the  perishing  thousands  of 
their  fellow  creatures  that  were  without  other  helpers 
in  the  way  of  life.  Surely  no  motive  could  have  been 
nobler.  Little  noticed  as  they  were  at  the  time,  it  is 
easy  for  us  to  see  now  that  they  did  more  to  lay  the 
broad  bases  of  a  Christian  civilization  in  the  struggling 
and  ill-organized  frontier  communities  than  any  other 
ag-ency  w^hich  was  then  at  work. 

As  noticed  above,  ten  years  had  elapsed  since  this 
6 


8o  Life  of  William  McKendrce. 

first  visit  of  Asbury,  and  conditions  were  now  in  many 
respects  much  changed  for  the  better.  The  Indians 
had  been  taught  the  folly  of  w  arring  upon  the  whites 
and  no  longer  lurked  upon  the  trail.  Here  and  there 
even  in  the  wilderness  were  rough  human  habitations. 
Kentucky  was  never  a  Territory  in  the  technical 
American  sense  of  the  term,  but  in  1792  was  carved 
directly  out  of  Virginia  and  admitted  as  a  full-fledged 
State  into  the  Federal  Union,  with  a  population  of  y2)y~ 
000,  which  by  the  end  of  the  century  was  almost  quad- 
rupled. In  the  central  parts  of  the  State  signs  of  a 
settled  life  and  even  of  coming  wealth  were  distinctly 
visible.  Nevertheless,  let  no  one  think  that  Asbury, 
Whatcoat,  and  McKendree  had  even  now  a  smooth  anrl 
easy  way  before  them.  Few  men  in  our  softer  times 
could  be  found  with  courage  to  undertake  their  task. 
They  reached  Bethel  Academy,  in  the  bend  of  the  Ken- 
tucky River,  October  4,  1800. 

As  set  out  in  previous  chapters,  Methodism  was  al- 
ready established  in  Kentucky  and  Tennessee.  Seven- 
teen years  before  this  time — that  is,  in  1783 — Francis 
Clark,  a  local  preacher  from  A'irginia,  in  company  with 
John  Durham  and  other  laymen,  settled  near  Danville 
and  organized  themselves  into  a  class ;  but  no  mention 
is  made  of  them  in  the  General  Minutes.  In  1786  the 
first  two  regular  itinerants,  James  Haw  and  Benjamin 
Ogden,  appointed  from  the  Conference  which  met  that 
year  in  Baltimore,  appeared  on  the  scene.  They  were 
men  of  uncommon  parts  and  for  several  years  did  yeo- 
man service,  laying  broad  and  secure  foundations  for 
their  successors.  There  was  no  hardship  that  they  did 
not  endure  and  no  danger  that  they  did  not  encounter. 


Set  over  the  Forces  in  the  Great  West.  8i 

In  the  face  of  the  most  tremendous  difficulties  they 
showed  a  steady  and  persistent  courage  that  reached 
and  passed  the  level  of  heroism.  Threading  the  nar- 
row paths  between  settlements,  they  preached  in  the 
lonely  cabins,  in  the  rude  blockhouses,  and  wherever 
else  an  audience  could  be  gathered.  They  wore  the 
coarsest  clothes,  ate  the  homeliest  food,  and  slept  either 
in  beds  that  were  far  from  tidiness  and  comfort  or 
else  under  the  open  sky. 

In  the  Conference  itself,  which  met  October  4-6, 
1800,  there  was  not  much  business ;  but  there  was 
worry  enough  on  the  outside  over  the  affairs  of  Bethel 
Academy,  which  had  been  projected  ten  years  before, 
but  had  never  been  a  success,  and  had  given  Asbury 
almost  as  much  concern  as  Cokesbury  College.  Leav- 
ing out  the  two  bishops,  only  five  preachers  answered 
to  their  names  at  roll  call.  It  is  fitting  that  they  should 
be  mentioned  here :  William  McKendree,  William 
Burke,  John  Sale,  Hezekiah  Harriman,  and  Ben- 
jamin Lakin.  Three  others  were  readmitted:  Lewis 
Hunt,  Thomas  Allen,  and  Jeremiah  Lawson.  Two 
were  admitted  on  trial :  William  Marsh  and  Benjamin 
Young.  Fourteen  local  preachers  and  four  traveling 
preachers  were  ordained  deacons. 

The  salaries  of  the  preachers,  which  were  only  eighty 
dollars  a  year,  all  showed  deficits.  The  most  of  these 
heroic  men  actually  received  less  than  fifty  dollars  each 
for  their  services.  Without  having  formally  assumed 
any  vow  of  poverty,  they  were  nearly  as  poor  as  the 
original  disciples  of  Saint  Francis  of  Assisi  or  as  the 
Galilean  fishermen  who  answered  the  call  of  the  Lord. 
There  was  nothing  that  they  dreaded  more  than  being 


82  Life  of  IVilUam  McKendree. 

suspected  of  mercenary  motives.  At  all  costs,  they 
were  determined  to  keep  themselves  free  from  that 
imputation.  Their  purpose  was  as  noble  as  that  of  St. 
Paul  when  he  labored  with  his  own  hands  rather  than 
be  a  burden  to  the  Church ;  but  they  made  a  great 
blunder  in  failing  to  see  that  self-denial  and  self-sacri- 
fice are  virtues  of  which  the  ministry  has  no  right  to 
possess  a  monopoly.  That  *'the  laborer  is  worthy  of 
his  hire,"  and  that  "they  who  preach  the  gospel  should 
live  of  the  gospel,"  are  facts  which  cannot  be  slurred 
over  without  harm  and  damage  to  all  concerned.  At 
this  point  in  their  early  history  the  fathers  of  Ameri- 
can Methodism  ate  sour  grapes,  and  the  children's 
teeth  have  been  set  on  edge  ever  since.  To  the  present 
day  we  are  suffering  from  the  noble  but  erroneous 
views  of  those  who  went  before  us. 

The  whole  field  west  of  the  Alleghany  Mountains 
was  thrown  by  the  bishops — really  by  Bishop  Asbury, 
who  took  the  lead  in  everything — into  one  district, 
and  McKendree  was  set  over  it.  It  was  as  large  as  an 
empire,  and  included  the  whole  States  of  Kentucky, 
Tennessee,  and  Ohio,  with  a  large  part  of  Virginia, 
and  missions  soon  to  be  established  in  Illinois,  Mis- 
sissippi and  Missouri.  The  very  magnitude  of  it  was 
an  appeal  to  the  imagination,  especially  as  there  was 
now  pouring  into  it  a  fresh  and  growing  tide  of  im- 
migrants from  the  older  States.  The  district  was  di- 
vided into  nine  circuits,  and  these  were  supplied  by 
fourteen  men,  the  nine  heretofore  mentioned  and 
besides  them  Henry  Smith,  Thomas  Wilkerson,  John 
Page,  James  Hunter,  and  John  Watson.    It  was  a  small 


vS'^^  over  the  Forces  in  the  Great  West.  83 

corps,  but  a  disciplined  one,  and  it  had  a  leader  who 
was  a  host  within  himself. 

During  the  greater  part  of  the  Conference  Asbury 
was  both  sick  and  dejected.  The  routine  affairs  he 
kept  in  his  hands,  but  left  the  most  of  the  preaching 
to  Whatcoat  and  McKendree.  Indeed,  on  Sunday 
he  did  not  venture  out  to  the  public  services,  being  shut 
up  in  his  own  room  by  the  rain.  A  note  from  his  Jour- 
nal is  significant.  He  says:  "It  was  strongly  insisted 
upon  by  preachers  and  people  that  I  should  say  some- 
thing before  I  left  Bethel.  Able  or  unable,  willing  or 
unwilling,  accordingly  on  Tuesday,  in  the  Academical 
Hall,  I  gave  a  long  and  temperate  talk  upon  Hebrews 
X.  38,  39."  Others  might  preach  with  more  force, 
but  the  people  must  hear  the  veteran,  and  even  at  the 
risk  of  putting  too  heavy  a  burden  upon  him  they 
clamored  to  see  him  on  the  platform.  I  know  what 
he  meant  when  he  said  that  his  talk  was  "long,"  but 
am  not  quite  certain  what  sense  he  attached  to  the 
word  "temperate."  It  is  probable,  however,  that,  to 
use  a  phrase  which  I  once  heard  from  a  colored 
preacher,  he  "held  himself  in." 

No  sooner  was  the  Conference  over  than  the  un- 
wearied itinerants  were  again  moving.  They  had  little 
time  to  lie  by  and  rest.  They  were  on  the  King's 
business,  and  that,  as  always,  required  haste.  Leaving 
Bethel  on  Wednesday,  October  8,  they  rode  clean 
across  the  State  of  Kentucky,  entering  Tennessee  on 
the  1 6th  and  reaching  Nashville  on  the  19th.  As  show- 
ing what  they  encountered  on  the  way,  I  condense 
from  Asbury's  Journal: 


84  Life  of  William  McKcndrcc, 

Wednesday,  8. — We  rode  fifteen  miles  to  Shawnee  Run, 
and  crossed  Kentucky  River  at  Curd's  Ferry.  The  river  is 
as  low  as  a  stream,  and  the  streams  are  nearly  dried  up, 

Thursday,  9. — I  preached  on  Hebrews  iii.  12-14  at  the  new 
house  at  Shawnee  Run.  We  had  rich  entertainment  for  man 
and  beast  at  Robert  Johnson's. 

This  "new  house"  was  a  church,  one  of  the  earliest 
in  that  part  of  the  State.  The  "rich  entertainment  at 
Robert  Johnson's"  was  a  legitimate  offset  to  the  coarse 
and  unpalatable  food  that  they  were  often  compelled 
to  eat. 

Friday,  jo.— We  rode  to  Pleasant  Run  to  John  Springer's. 
It  was  a  very  warm  day  for  the  season.  I  had  a  running 
blister  at  my  side,  yet  I  rode  and  walked  thirty-two  miles. 
We  refreshed  ourselves  at  Crawford's  Tavern  on  the  way. 
We  have  visited  Knox,  Madison,  Mercer,  and  Washington 
Counties,  in  this  State. 

At  Springer's  they  remained  from  Friday  evening 
till  Monday  morning.  On  Sunday  it  rained  so  hard 
that  the  bishops  were  "shut  up,"  but  McKendree  met 
the  people  and  preached.  It  was  a  bad  day  when  he 
failed  to  meet  a  waiting  audience. 

Monday,  13. — We  left  John  Springer's  and  came  to  Lewis 
Thomas's,  fifteen  miles;  a  deep,  damp,  narrow  path;  the 
underwood  very  wet.  Crossed  Cartwright's  and  Hardin's 
Creeks.  I  gave  a  short  sermon  on  Romans  viii.  9:  "H  any 
man  have  not  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  he  is  none  of  his." 

Thursday,  14. — We  began  our  march  for  Cumberland.  We 
were  told  by  two  persons  that  wc  could  not  cross  the  Rolling 
Fork  of  Salt  River.  I  judged  we  could;  and  as  I  thought, 
so  it  was;  we  forded  it  with  ease.  We  came  up  a  solitary 
path  east  of  the  Level  Woods  and  struck  into  the  road  to 
Lee's  Ferry.  Fourteen  miles  of  the  latter  part  of  this  day*s 
journey  we  rode  through  barrens  of  hickory,  shrub  oak,  and 
ftazel.     Thirty  miles,  if  not  thirty-five,  is  the  amount  of  this 


^S'^^  over  the  Forces  in  the  Great  West.  85 

day's  work.  In  the  morning  there  was  a  very  great  damp,  and 
in  the  afternoon  it  was,  I  thought,  as  warm  as  the  west  of 
Georgia. 

Wednesday,  15. — We  crossed  Green  River,  the  main  branch 
of  which  riseth  near  the  Crab  Orchard.  We  crossed  at  the 
mouth  of  Little  Barren  River.  We  then  rode  a  bold  push 
for  the  Great  Barren.  Dining  at  Mr.  Morrison's,  I  could  not 
eat  wallet  provision ;  but  happily  for  me,  I  was  provided  with 
a  little  fresh  mutton  at  the  house,  made  warm  in  a  little 
space.  Now  we  had  unfavorable  appearances  of  rain;  we  had 
bleak,  barren  hills  to  ride,  which,  although  beautiful  to  sight, 
were  painful  to  sense.  The  rain  came  in  large  and  rapid 
drops  for  fourteen  miles.  We  were  well  soaked  on  all  sides. 
A  little  after  dark  we  came  to  Mr.  Hagin's,  upon  Big  Bar- 
ren River.  A  good  house,  an  excellent  fire  to  dry  our  cloth- 
ing, good  meat  and  milk  for  supper,  and  the  cleanest  beds — 
all  we  had.    I  have  paid  for  this  route. 

Preaching  on  the  i8th  at  the  house  of  a  Brother 
Parker,  in  Sumner  County,  Tenn.,  they  were  met  by 
four  local  preachers  (Brothers  McGee,  Suggs,  Jones, 
and  Speer)  and  had  a  season  of  great  rejoicing.  On 
the  19th  they  had  their  first  view  of  the  city  of  Nash- 
ville, which  was  founded  by  four  hundred  immigrants 
from  the  Watauga  Settlement,  in  East  Tennessee, 
under  the  leadership  of  James  Robertson,  in  the  winter 
of  1779-80,  and,  after  an  early  history  as  full  of  ro- 
mance and  of  tragedy  as  any  community  ever  passed 
through,  was  now  enjoying  a  peaceful  and  solid  pros- 
perity. The  visitors  found  that  the  IMethodists  had 
erected  a  stone  church  on  the  public  square,  of  which 
Asbury  said :  "If  it  were  floored,  ceiled,  and  glazed,  it 
would  be  a  noble  house."  Inside  and  outside  of  it  a 
congregation  of  one  thousand  persons  was  gathered. 
Asbury,  Whatcoat,  and  McKcndree  preached  in  sue- 


86  Life  of  ]ViUiain  McKcndrcc. 

cession.  The  service  lasted  three  hours,  but  there  is 
no  record  to  the  effect  that  anybody  grew  weary. 
That  sort  of  preaching  was  not  to  be  heard  every  day. 
I  much  doubt  if  any  three  men  ever  came  to  the  town 
who  brought  it  a  greater  blessing.  Very  appropriate- 
ly, after  the  lapse  of  more  than  a  hundred  years,  the 
Methodists  of  the  city  are  just  now  (1913)  setting  up  a 
marker  and  tablet  on  the  spot  where  the  "noble"  stone 
house,  without  floor  or  ceiling  or  glazing,  stood.  It 
is  strange  that  the  thing  has  not  been  done  before. 

On  the  next  day,  by  special  invitation  no  doubt,  the 
three  visitors  attended  "a  sacramental  solemnity" 
which  had  been  in  progress  for  four  days  at  Drake's 
Creek  Meetinghouse,  some  ten  or  fifteen  miles  dis- 
tant, under  the  care  of  Rev.  Messrs.  Hodge,  Rankin, 
McGee,  Adair,  and  Craighead,  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  and  preached,  not  contra\'ersially,  but  still  in 
downright  Methodist  fashion.  They  got  good  and 
gave  good,  and  such  fair  exchange  as  that  is  not  rob- 
bery. "The  Great  Revival"  had  fairly  begun  in  J^Iiddle 
Tennessee  and  Southern  Kentucky.  AIcKendree 
lighted  his  torch  afresh  at  this  Calvinistic  altar  and 
shook  the  glowing  sparks  wherever  he  went.  Another 
extract  from  Asbury's  journal  is  certainly  not  out  of 
place :  ^  c^^ 

Tuesday,  October  21. — Yesterday,  and  especially  during 
the  night,  were  witnessed  scenes  of  deep  interest.  In  the 
intervals  between  preaching  the  people  refreshed  themselves 
and  horses  and  returned  upon  the  ground.  The  stand  was 
in  the  open  air,  embosomed  in  a  wood  of  lofty  beech  trees. 
The  ministers  of  God,  Methodists  and  Presbyterians,  united 
their  labors  and  mingled  with  the  childlike  simplicity  of  primi- 
tive times.     Fires  blazing  here  and  there  dispelled  the  dark- 


Set  over  the  Forces  in  the  Great  West.  87 

ness,  and  the  shouts  of  the  redeemed  captives  and  the  cries 
of  precious  souls  struggling  into  life  broke  the  silence  of  mid- 
night. The  weather  was  delightful,  as  if  Heaven  smiled,  while 
mercy  flowed  in  abundant  streams  of  salvation.  We  suppose 
that  there  were  at  least  thirty  souls  converted  at  this  meet- 
ing. I  rejoice  that  God  is  visiting  the  sons  of  the  Puritans, 
who  are  candid  enough  to  acknowledge  their  obligation  to 
the  Methodists. 

Not  pausing  longer  than  was  necessary  in  the  vi- 
cinity of  Nashville,  Asbury  and  Whatcoat,  still  ac- 
companied by  McKendree,  pursued  their  round  across 
the  Cumberland  Mountains,  passing  the  Crab  Orchard 
(to  be  distinguished  from  the  Kentucky  settlement  of 
the  same  name)  and  v^hat  is  now  Kingston,  and 
reached  Knoxville  on  November  i,  a  journey  of  more 
than  two  hundred  miles  over  difficult  and  dangerous 
roads.  At  this  point  the  bishops  parted  from  Mc- 
Kendree, they  to  go  forward  through  the  valley  of  the 
French  Broad  into  the  Carollnas  and  he  to  return  to 
the  duties  of  his  district  In  Kentucky. 

In  the  foregoing  chapter  I  have  dwelt  somewhat  at 
length  on  details  of  travel  to  give  the  reader  a  clear 
conception  of  the  manner  and  order  of  the  life  which 
McKendree  and  his  associates  led  In  the  prosecution 
of  their  high  calling.  Except,  therefore,  when  I  follow 
them  into  entirely  new  fields,  It  will  not  be  necessary 
for  me  hereafter  to  be  so  full  In  my  account  of  their 
morvements. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 
Taking  a  Fresh  Start  in  Kentucky. 

It  is  rather  a  remarkable  fact,  as  before  intimated, 
that  from  1792  to  1800  Methodism  made  no  visible 
progress  in  Kentucky  and,  in  truth,  scarcely  held  its 
own.  At  the  former  date  it  had  1,808  members ;  at  the 
latter,  only  1,740,  and  this  in  spite  of  the  other  fact 
that  the  population  of  the  State  had  increased  during 
the  same  period  from  73,000  to  264,303  souls. 

There  must  be  some  good  reason  or  reasons  for  this 
sudden  arrest  of  growth.  It  cannot  be  attributed  to 
the  incompetency  or  unfaithfulness  of  the  preachers. 
Many  of  them  were  men  of  great  ability  and  fine  char- 
acter. Merely  to  call  the  roll  of  their  names  is  to 
verify  this  assertion.  Besides  Haw^  and  Ogden,  al- 
ready mentioned,  there  were  Thomas  Williamson,  Wil- 
son Lee,  Francis  Poythress,  Barnabas  McHenry,  Peter 
Massie,  John  Page,  Benjamin  Xorthcutt,  John  Ray, 
William  Burke,  Jacob  Lurton,  John  Kobler,  Thomas 
Wilkerson,  James  W^ard,  and  Henry  Birchett.  These 
were  the  very  flower  of  the  itinerant  army. 

Neither  can  we  find  a  satisfactory  explanation  of  the 
state  of  affairs  under  notice  in  the  statement,  which 
is  no  doubt  true,  that  great  numbers  of  Methodists 
moved  on  farther  west ;  for  more  were  doubtless 
coming  in  all  the  time  than  were  going  out.  The  gains 
from  immigration  ought  to  have  been  at  least  as  large 
as  the  losses  from  emigration. 

But  the  very  newness  of  social  conditions  made  re- 
(88) 


Taking  a  Fresh  Start  in  Kentucky.  89 

ligioiis  work  increasingly  difficult.  The  people  had  all 
been  uprooted  from  their  old,  familiar  surroundings 
and  set  down  in  the  midst  of  strange  environments. 
The  natural  tendency  of  such  a  change  was  to  relax 
the  moral  and  religious  restraints  to  which  they  had 
been  accustomed  in  their  former  homes.  When  the 
beaten  tracks  of  life  were  gone,  the  people  followed 
the  devices  and  desires  of  their  own  hearts.  Left 
largely  free  from  outward  constraints,  they  also  cast 
off  the  authority  of  God.  Everything  about  them 
was  unsettled.  For  the  first  thirty  years  of  her  ex- 
istence Kentucky  was  never  free  from  wars  and  rumors 
of  wars.  No  man  could  tell  at  just  what  hour  it 
would  be  necessary  for  him  to  fight  for  his  own  life 
and  the  lives  of  his  wife  and  children.  Then,  too,  the 
whole  population  was  fermenting  with  the  eager  de- 
sire to  get  large  bodies  of  the  best  lands.  The  rude 
surveys  often  crossed  and  recrossed  one  another.  In 
some  sections  titles  were  three  deep.  All  this  bred 
innumerable  conflicts  of  interest  and  stirred  up  envies, 
jealousies,  hatreds,  and  all  manner  of  uncharitable- 
ness. 

The  mass  of  the  immigrants  were  good  specimens  of 
the  Scotch  and  English  races.  No  new  State  ever  had 
better,  but  they  suffered  a  certain  deterioration  from 
the  causes  I  have  mentioned.  Worse  still,  there  was  a 
considerable  element  of  floaters  who  had  drifted  in  on 
the  top  of  the  tide  and  had  no  thought  of  settling  down 
to  the  hard  and  steady  tasks  of  good  citizenship. 
These  were  gamblers,  drunkards,  thieves,  and  loose 
livers  from  the  older  communities.  Whisky  was 
plentiful  and  cheap   and  the  use  of  it  very  general. 


90  Life  of  William  McKendree. 

In  its  train  came,  as  always,  a  long  line  of  associated 
evils. 

At  a  very  early  day,  morecrv^er,  French  infidelity  be- 
came widely  spread  throughout  the  trans-Alleghany 
settlements.  \i  the  close  of  our  Revolutionary  War 
everything  French  was  popular  in  America.  It  became 
a  sort  of  fad  among  the  hunters  and  trappers  of  the 
West  to  profess  admiration  for  \'oltaire  and  Rousseau, 
and  contempt  for  all  the  tenets  and  usages  of  religion. 
Just  how  this  spirit  of  skepticism  managed  to  propa- 
gate itself,  it  would  be  difficult  to  say.  But  somehow  or 
other  it  got  into  the  air,  percolated  through  all  classes 
of  society,  and  made  converts  in  every  quarter.  It 
was  a  strange  spectacle,  that  of  the  uncultured  and 
self-assertive  descendants  of  Scotch  Covenanters  and 
English  Puritans  following  the  lead  of  teachers  wdiose 
delight  it  was  to  deny  and  denounce  all  the  beliefs  that 
the  ages  had  consecrated. 

Dr.  Redford  insists  that  the  action  of  the  ^lethodists 
in  taking  up  an  open  antagonism  to  slavery  also  kept 
a  large  number  of  intelligent  and  well-disposed  people 
from  joining  them.  There  may  be  something  in  that 
view,  but  I  am  not  disposed  to  consider  it  as  carrying 
much  weight. 

After  all,  it  seems  to  me  that  the  course  of  Haw  and 
Ogden  in  going  after  James  O'Kelly  put  greater  ob- 
stacles in  the  way  of  the  Church  than  all  the  things 
that  I  have  mentioned.  As  pioneers  their  influence 
was  great,  and  they  threw  it  all  against  the  cause  which 
they  had  so  vigorously  supported  and  defended.  At  a 
later  date  Ogden  repented  of  his  folly,  was  readmitted 
into  the  itinerancy,  and  died  in  good  repute.    But  Haw 


Taking  a  Fresh  Start  in  Kentucky.  91 

was  not  a  man  to  turn  backward.  When  his  preju- 
dices were  once  aroused,  he  became  a  bitter  and  un- 
yielding partisan.  He  had  probably  known  and  admired 
O'Kelly  in  Virginia  and  was  ready  to  listen  to  what- 
ever his  old  friend  might  have  to  say.  At  any  rate, 
when  the  great  schismatic  broke  away  after  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  of  1792  and  undertook  to  set  up  a 
new  Church  patterned  after  his  own  notions.  Haw, 
who  had  already  located  on  account  of  his  failing 
health,  followed  him  heart  and  soul.  The  infection  of 
O'Kellyism  got  into  his  very  blood  and  disturbed  and 
perverted  all  his  judgments.  His  violence  against 
Episcopal  Methodism  and  its  adherents  passed  all  the 
bounds  of  propriety.  He  did  not  now  hesitate  to 
denounce  even  Bishop  Asbury,  whom  he  had  long 
loved  and  honored,  as  a  base  seel<er  after  power  and 
money. 

At  the  time  Haw  was  living  in  Sumner  County, 
Tenn.,  not  far  from  the  Kentucky  line.  He  was  so 
popular  that  his  neighbors  had  made  him  a  present  of 
six  hundred  and  forty  acres  of  good  land  just  for  the 
sake  of  keeping  him  among  them.  For  a  while  It 
looked  as  if  he  would  lead  them  all  after  him  in  his 
defection  from  the  Church.  Indeed,  he  did  draw  off 
all  the  traveling  and  local  preachers  except  sturdy 
James  Gwin,  who  had  a  way  of  putting  his  foot  down 
and  refusing  to  take  It  up  except  for  a  good  reason. 
The  congregations  too  were  greatly  disturbed. 

What  the  results  would  have  been  If  Providence 
had  not  Intervened,  It  Is  difficult  to  say.  But  It  came 
to  pass  that  In  1795  William  Burke  was  sent  to  the 
Cumberland  Circuit.     He  was  surelv  the  man  for  the 


92  Life  of  William  McKendree. 

hour.  Steady  in  his  convictions,  an  able  debater  and 
an  eloquent  preacher,  and,  withal,  a  man  of  the  rarest 
tact,  he  met  Haw  and  beat  him  on  his  own  field. 
Through  his  influence  the  great  majority  of  Meth- 
odists returned  to  the  fold,  leaving  only  a  scattered 
few  to  support  the  cause  of  the  schismatics.  In  Cen- 
tral and  Northern  Kentucky,  however,  the  plague 
worked  with  varying  energy  for  a  good  while  longer, 
and,  as  I  have  said,  did  an  amount  of  damage  that  can- 
not be  overstated. 

But  as  the  century  grew  old  there  were  signs  of  bet- 
ter times.  Isolated  revivals  of  religion  broke  out  here 
and  there,  harbingers  of  that  great  outpouring  of  the 
Spirit  which  began  in  1799  and  spread  over  the  whole 
country.  So  much  has  been  written  concerning  it  that 
it  is  almost  unnecessary  to  dwell  long  upon  it  in  this 
connection,  but  I  cannot  forbear  a  few  paragraphs 
in  addition  to  what  I  have  before  said.  The  chief 
human  instrumentalities  in  the  origin  of  the  move- 
ment were  the  two  brothers.  Revs.  John  and  Wil- 
liam McGee,  the  one  a  Methodist  and  the  other  a 
Presbyterian,  who  emigrated  from  North  Carolina  to 
Sumner  County,  Tenn.,  in  1797.  In  spite  of  their  deep 
doctrinal  differences  they  were  true  yokefellows  in 
the  gospel.  Starting  out  in  1799  for  a  preaching  tour 
through  the  country  between  their  homes  and  the  Ohio 
River,  they  made  their  first  stop  at  a  sacramental  meet- 
ing in  the  church  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  McGrady,  on  Red 
River,  Logan  County,  Ky.  Two  other  Presbyterian 
ministers,  Hodge  and  Rankin,  were  also  present  as 
visitors.  Out  of  abundant  courtesy  John  McGee,  the 
only  Methodist  in  the  company,  was  asked  to  preach 


Taking  a  Fresh  Start  in  Kentucky.  93 

first.  He  was  followed  in  order  by  the  rest.  All  spoke 
with  much  liberty  and  animation.  Though  there  was 
deep  feeling  in  the  congregation  from  day  to  day,  there 
was  no  remarkable  stir  until  Monday  morning,  when, 
under  the  preaching  of  Mr.  Hodge,  "a.  lady  obtained 
an  uncommon  blessing  and  began  to  shout  the  praises 
of  God."  This  was  a  little  too  much  for  Messrs.  Mc- 
Grady,  Hodge,  and  Rankin.  It  infringed  on  their  sense 
of  propriety,  and  they  presently  left  the  house.  But 
the  two  brothers  McGee  remained  and  carried  on  the 
service,  the  people  also  staying  in  their  seats.  John 
McGee  had  been  appointed  to  follow  Mr.  Hodge  with 
a  sermon,  but  the  power  of  God  so  overcame  him  that 
he  could  only  exhort.  The  result  was  amazing.  Every- 
body in  the  audience  was  affected.  The  floor  was 
speedily  covered  with  men  and  women  crying  for 
mercy.  Many  found  forgiveness  and  many  others  went 
away  in  agony  of  spirit,  praying  for  the  great  gift. 

The  next  gathering  was  on  Muddy  River,  about 
three  miles  from  Russellville,  in  the  same  county. 
There  a  new  thing  happened.  A  number  of  people 
loaded  up  their  wagons  with  provisions  enough  to  last 
for  several  days,  as  well  as  with  ample  bed  clothing, 
and  drove  to  the  meeting  place  and  camped  on  the 
grounds.  This  was  the  real  beginning  of  camp  meet- 
ings, which  for  the  next  half  century  played  so  im- 
portant a  part  in  the  Methodist  economy.  McGee  in 
a  letter  written  June  23,  1820,  enumerates  all  the  above 
facts  and  says  that  *'the  Lord  was  present  and  ap- 
proved of  their  zeal  by  sealing  a  pardon  to  about  forty 
souls." 

The  news  of  such  strange  occurrences  spread  fast 


94  Life  of  William  McKendrce. 

through  the  settlements;  and  when  a  regular  camp 
meeting  was  appointed  a  little  later  at  a  place  just 
south  of  the  Cumberland  Ridge,  ten  miles  east  of  Gal- 
latin, Tenn.,  there  was  "an  increase  of  people  and  car- 
riages of  different  descriptions.''  A  great  many  Pres- 
byterian and  Methodist  preachers  were  present,  but 
only  a  few  Baptists.  It  is  better  to  let  McGee  speak 
again.  He  says :  "Preaching  commenced  and  the  peo- 
ple prayed,  and  the  power  of  God  attended.  There  was 
a  great  cry  for  mercy.  The  nights  were  truly  awful; 
the  camp  ground  was  well  illuminated ;  the  people  were 
differently  exercised  all  over  the  ground,  some  exhort- 
ing, some  shouting,  some  praying,  and  some  crying 
for  mercy,  while  others  lay  as  dead  men  on  the  ground. 
Some  of  the  spiritually  wounded  fled  to  the  woods, 
and  their  groans  could  be  heard  all  through  the  sur- 
rounding groves  as  the  groans  of  dying  men.  From 
thence  many  came  into  the  camp,  rejoicing  and  prais- 
ing God  for  having  found  redemption  in  the  blood  of 
the  Lamb.  At  this  meeting  it  was  computed  that  one 
hundred  souls  were  converted  from  nature  to  grace. 
But  perhaps  the  greatest  meeting  we  ever  witnessed  in 
this  country  took  place  shortly  after  on  Desha's  Creek, 
near  the  Cumberland  River.  ^lany  thousands  of  people 
attended.  The  mighty  power  and  mercy  of  God  were 
manifested.  The  people  fell  before  the  word  like  corn 
before  a  storm  of  wind,  and  many  rose  from  the  dust 
with  divine  glory  shining  in  their  countenances  and 
gave  glory  to  God  in  such  strains  as  made  the  hearts 
of  stubborn  sinners  to  tremble :  and  after  the  first  gust 
of  praise  they  would  break  forth  in  volleys  of  ex- 
hortation." 


Taking  a  Fresh  Start  in  Kentucky.  95 

In  a  preceding  chapter  we  have  noticed  that  Asbury, 
Whatcoat,  and  ]\IcKendree  on  the  day  following  their 
first  arrival  at  Nashville  went  to  a  meeting  of  similar 
character  at  the  Presbyterian  church  on  Drake's  Creek 
and  were  greatly  impressed  with  what  they  saw  and 
heard.  It  need  not  surprise  us,  therefore,  to  learn  that 
when  McKendree  again  reached  Kentucky  via  the 
Cumberland  Mountains  and  Knoxville  he  brought  the 
gracious  tidings  with  him  and  spread  them  far  and 
wide.  It  was  partly,  at  least,  due  to  his  influence  that 
the  fire  began  to  burn  at  various  places  in  that  region. 
He  came  at  a  good  time  and  measured  up  to  all  the 
opportunities  that  were  set  before  him.  The  temporary 
"union"  which  the  Presbyterians  and  Methodists  ef- 
fected at  the  beginning  of  the  revival  could  not,  of 
course,  be  permanent.  The  two  Churches  had  come 
together  under  the  impulse  of  the  Spirit  to  accomplish 
a  great  and  definite  end.  Nothing  could  have  been 
more  Christlike  than  the  attitude  which  they  displayed 
toward  each  other.  But  each  Church  had  some  highly 
prized  peculiarities  of  doctrine  and  usage  which  it  did 
not  care  to  surrender  and  which,  indeed,  it  could  not 
have  surrendered  without  losing  something  of  its  ef- 
ficiency. Through  McKendree's  wise  and  godly  man- 
agement the  Methodists  did  their  full  share  of  the 
labor  in  the  revival  itself,  and  also  came  out  of  it  with 
the  perfect  good  will  of  their  fellow  Christians,  their 
polity  intact  and  in  full  working  order. 

From  that  time  forward  ^lethodism  had  an  almost 
unbroken  career  of  success  In  evangelizing  the  West. 
It  is  impossible  to  read  the  mighty  narrative  of  its 
achievements    without   reaching   the    conclusion    that 


96  Life  of  William  McKendrce. 

McKendree,  more  perhaps  than  any  other  one  man, 
contributed  to  the  aggregate  result.  He  had  almost  un- 
limited physical  strength  and  endurance.  No  journey 
was  too  long  nor  too  hard  for  him  to  undertake  when 
it  seemed  necessary.  For  several  years  he  lived  more 
in  the  saddle  than  anywhere  else.  Wherever  he  went  he 
was  at  once  recognized  as  a  new  force.  His  preaching 
was  of  the  highest  order.  Men  were  frequently  heard 
to  say  after  listening  to  him :  *'Did  you  ever  hear  the 
like?"  Several  of  his  brethren  who  had  preceded  him 
perhaps  equaled  him  in  particular  respects,  but  not 
one  of  them  was  a  match  for  him  on  the  whole  ground. 
As  an  organizer  he  was  without  a  peer.  Not  even  Mr. 
Wesley  himself  had  a  clearer  realization  of  the  fact 
that  organization  is  necessary  to  conserve  the  results 
of  a  religious  upheaval.  Itinerant  ministers  being  all 
too  scarce,  he  hunted  up  and  put  to  work  every  avail- 
able local  preacher,  and  in  this  way  brought  out  a  good 
many  worthy  men  who  afterwards  became  conspic- 
uously useful  in  the  regular  ranks.  Not  content  to 
hold  the  ground  already  gained,  he  created  new  circuits 
wherever  he  could  discover  an  opening  for  them.  In- 
stead of  standing  on  the  defensive,  he  acted  upon  the 
belief  that  the  only  safe  course  for  the  Church  is  to 
make  incessant  warfare  upon  Satan  and  his  kingdom. 
His  wisdom  was  justified  by  the  results.  Not  only 
in  Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  but  beyond  the  Ohio  and 
the  Mississippi,  the  cause  took  on  new  life  and  flour- 
ished as  never  before. 

As  noticed  on  a  previous  page,  McKendree  left  As- 
bury  at  Knoxville  in  November,  1800,  and  returned  to 
Kentucky,  passing  through  Cumberland  Gap  and  tak- 


Taking  a  Fresh  Start  in  Kentucky.  97 

ing  his  old  route  thence  to  the  Blue  Grass  region. 
Through  the  year  that  followed  he  was  perhaps  the 
busiest  man  in  all  that  quarter.  In  fact,  when  the  Con- 
ference met  October  31,  1801,  at  Felix  Earnest's,  on 
the  Nollichucky  River,  Greene  County,  Tenn.,  neither 
he  nor  the  preachers  under  him  were  present.  As- 
bury's  journal  says:  "Our  brethren  in  Kentucky  did 
not  attend ;  they  pleaded  the  greatness  of  the  work  of 
God."  How  great  it  was  may  be  gathered  from  this, 
that  at  the  next  Conference,  held  at  Strother's,  Sumner 
County,  Tenn.,  October  2,  1802,  it  was  found  necessary 
to  divide  McKendree's  district  into  three — Holston, 
Cumberland,  and  Kentucky.  He  retained  Kentucky. 
The  Conference  itself  was  full  of  interest.  It  appeared 
from  the  reports  of  the  preachers  that  during  the  year 
there  had  been  great  gains  in  the  membership.  Every- 
body was  hopeful.  Asbury  himself  was  quite  sick,  but 
stuck  to  his  task.  The  record  in  his  journal  is  very 
brief :  "My  stomach  and  speech  were  pretty  well  gone. 
I  applied  to  Mr.  William  Hodges  and  J\Ir.  William  Mc- 
Gee,  Presbyterian  ministers,  to  supply  my  lack  of  pub- 
lic service,  which  they  did  with  great  fervency  and 
fidelity.  With  great  pleasure  and  in  great  pain  I  heard 
them  both.  I  was  able  to  ordain,  by  employing  Brother 
McKendree  to  examine  those  who  were  presented,  and 
to  station  the  preachers,  I  hope,  for  the  glory  of  God, 
the  benefit  of  the  people,  and  the  advantage  of  the 
preachers." 

McKendree's  service  to  Asbury  did  not  stop  with 
the  session  of  the  Conference.  The  two  again  became 
traveling  companions  across  the  Cumberland  Moun- 
tains and  through  Eastern  Tennessee  for  more  than 


98  Life  of  William  McKeudree. 

two  hundred  miles.  Asbury's  journal  tells  the  story 
very  simply.  Here  is  a  brief  extract  from  it:  "Brother 
jMcKendree  made  me  a  tent  of  his  own  and  John  Wat- 
son's blankets  and  happily  saved  me  from  taking  cold 
while  I  slept  about  two  hours  under  my  grand  mar- 
quee." And  here  is  another:  "I  have  been  sick  for 
twenty-three  days.  O  the  tale  of  woe  I  might  relate ! 
My  dear  McKendree  had  to  lift  me  up  and  down  from 
my  horse  like  a  helpless  child." 

Leaving  the  venerable  Bishop  on  November  8,  ^Ic- 
Kendree  turned  back  once  more  to  his  district,  now 
somewhat  circumscribed,  but  still  as  large  as  an  empire. 
During  the  year  that  followed  things  moved  forward 
at  a  great  rate.  The  work  showed  such  signs  of  en- 
largement that  from  the  Conference  which  met  at 
i\rt.  Gerizim,  Harrison  County,  Ky.,  October  2,  1803, 
Bishop  Asbury  found  it  necessary  to  send  William 
Burke  as  presiding  elder  to  form  a  new  district  north- 
west of  the  Ohio  River.  The  statistics  also  tell  a 
wonderful  stor}^  of  progress. 

It  was  understood  that  McKendree  would  go  to  the 
General  Conference  which  was  to  meet  in  Baltimore 
in  Mrv,  1804,  and  he  received  some  money  to  assist 
in  paying  the  expense  of  the  trip.  But  at  the  last 
moment  he  concluded  that  he  ought  not  to  absent  him- 
self for  so  long  a  time  from  the  active  duties  of  the 
field,  and  so  turned  over  the  expense  money  to  Wil- 
liam Burke  and  stayed  in  his  district.  In  October, 
1804,  Conference  again  met  at  Mt.  Gerizim.  Bishop 
Asbury  having  taken  sick  on  the  way  thither,  neither 
he  nor  Bishop  Whatcoat,  who  accompanied  him.  was 
able  to  attend  the  session.    In  the  absence  of  the  two 


Taking  a  Fresh  Start  in  Kentucky.  99 

Bishops  McKendree  was  elected  President,  and  ad- 
mirably performed  all  the  duties  of  the  episcopal  office 
except  the  ordination  of  the  deacons  and  elders. 

At  the  Conference  of  1805,  which  met  in  Scott 
County,  Ky.,  and  over  which  Bishop  Asbury  presided, 
McKendree  was  removed  from  the  Kentucky  to  the 
Cumberland  District,  including  all  of  ^Middle  and  West 
Tennessee,  also  Mississippi  on  the  south  and  Indiana, 
Illinois,  and  Missouri  on  the  west.  In  apparent  viola- 
tion of  the  rule  adopted  in  1792,  he  had  already  served 
five  years  on  the  former  district.  Why  this  irregularity 
had  been  allowed  by  men  who  were  sticklers  for  the 
Discipline  I  cannot  imagine,  and  Bishop  Paine  pro- 
fesses himself  unable  to  explain  it. 

From  that  time  on  to  the  end  of  his  life  McKendree 
became  an  adopted  son  of  Tennessee.  His  father  and 
other  relatives  removed  thither  from  Virginia  in  1810, 
and  with  them  he  made  his  home,  as  far  as  such  a 
traveler  could  be  said  to  have  a  home.  The  place  of 
their  residence  was  about  twenty-five  or  thirty  miles 
distant  from  Nashville.  In  that  city  the  Bishop  had 
many  devoted  friends  who  counted  it  always  an  honor 
to  receive  him  as  a  guest.  After  a  lapse  of  more  than 
eighty  years,  memories  of  him  are  still  in  the  air. 

The  place  of  holding  the  Western  Conference  was 
shifted  in  1806  back  to  Ebenezer  Church,  Greene 
County,  East  Tennessee,  where  it  convened  on 
September  20.  By  all  tokens  it  was  a  good  session. 
There  was  preaching  morning,  noon,  and  night.  On 
Sunday  Asbury  and  McKendree  both  preached  from 
a  stand  In  the  woods,  and  at  least  two  thousand  people 
were  In  the  audience.     The  ^flsslsslppl  preachers  did 


loo  Life  of  William  McKendree. 

not  think  they  could  be  spared  from  their  circuits  and 
did  not  come.  Asbury's  journal  has  an  exultant  note: 
"There  are  fourteen  hundred  added  within  the  bounds 
of  this  Conference,  fifty-five  preachers  stationed,  all 
pleased'^  This  latter  fact  is  so  remarkable  that  it  de- 
serves to  be  italicized.  Another  entry  shows  the  heroic 
quality  of  the  men  and  the  tenderness  of  the  Bishop: 
"The  brethren  were  in  want  and  could  not  provide 
clothes  for  themselves.  So  I  parted  with  my  watch  and 
my  coat  and  my  shirt."  No  wonder  that  they  followed 
his  leadership. 

The  year  1807  w^as  one  of  great  labor  and  priva- 
tion with  McKendree.  We  have  seen  that  both  Illinois 
and  Missouri  were  included  in  his  district.  Jesse  Wal- 
ker had  been  sent  to  the  former  and  John  Travis  to  the 
latter  to  get  the  lay  of  the  land  and  map  out  new  cir- 
cuits. Two  better  men  for  such  an  enterprise  could  not 
easily  have  been  found.  They  rejoiced  in  holding  posts 
on  the  front  line.  Difficulties  did  not  discourage  them 
nor  dangers  frighten  them.  Walker,  in  particular,  was 
the  Daniel  Boone  of  ^lethodism.  But  they  needed  the 
help  of  an  experienced  and  competent  elder.  So  Mc- 
Kendree determined  to  visit  them.  Fortunately  an  ac- 
count of  the  trip  written  by  James  Gwin,  who  shared 
it  with  him,  has  been  preserved.  It  is  so  illuminative 
of  times  and  conditions  that,  though  it  has  often  been 
published,  I  venture  to  reproduce  a  considerable  por- 
tion of  it  here: 

In  the  year  1807  Brother  McKendree,  A.  Goddard,  and 
myself  set  out  to  visit  the  settlements  of  Illinois.  We  crossed 
the  Ohio  River,  took  the  wilderness,  and  traveled  until  night. 
Not   being    able    to    get    to    any    habitation,    we    camped    out. 


Taking  a  Fresh  Start  in  Kentucky.  loi 

Brother  McKendree  made  us  some  tea,  and  we  lay  down  un- 
der the  branches  of  a  friendly  beech  and  had  a  pleasant  night's 
rest.  Next  morning  we  set  out  early,  traveled  hard,  and  got 
some  distance  into  the  prairie,  and  here  we  took  up  for  the 
night.  This  was  a  night  of  trouble.  After  we  had  taken  a 
morsel  to  eat  and  offered  up  our  prayers  to  God,  we  lay  down 
to  rest  and  fell  into  a  deep  sleep.  About  eleven  o'clock 
Brother  McKendree  awoke  and  found  that  our  horses  were 
all  gone.  After  some  search  we  found  that  they  had  passed 
over  a  small  stream  and  had  taken  back  the  way  we  had  come. 
Not  knowing  whether  they  had  been  stolen  or  had  left  of 
their  own  accord,  leaving  Brother  McKendree  at  our  camp. 
Brother  Goddard  and  myself  went  in  pursuit  of  them.  As 
the  night  was  dark,  we  got  dry  bark,  which  afforded  us  a 
tolerable  light.  We  followed  their  tracks  across  the  prairie 
and  overtook  them  about  eight  o'clock  the  next  morning,  hav- 
ing traveled  fifteen  miles  on  foot.  The  next  night  we  reached 
the  first  settlement.  We  tarried  a  day  there.  Crossing  Kas- 
kaskia  River,  we  reached  Turkey  Hill  and  lodged  with  an  old 
Brother  Scott.  Here  we  met  with  Jesse  Walker,  who  had 
formed  a  circuit  and  had  three  camp  meetings  appointed  for 
us.  After  resting  a  few  days,  we  set  out  for  the  first  camp 
meeting.  In  twelve  miles  we  reached  the  Mississippi.  Hav- 
ing no  means  of  taking  our  horses  across,  we  sent  them  back, 
crossed  the  river,  and,  with  our  baggage  on  our  shoulders, 
went  to  the  camp  ground,  having  fallen  in  with  Brother  Travis 
on  the  way.    About  forty  were  converted  at  this  meeting. 

From  this  camp  meeting  we  returned  across  the  river  to 
Judge  S.'s,  who  refreshed  us  and  sent  forward  our  baggage 
in  a  cart  to  Brother  Garrettson's,  where  our  next  meeting  was 
to  be  held,  which  was  called  Three  Springs.  We  arrived  on 
Friday  morning  on  the  camp  ground,  which  was  situated  in 
a  beautiful  grove  surrounded  by  a  prairie.  A  considerable 
congregation  had  collected,  for  the  news  of  the  other  meetings 
had  gone  abroad  and  produced  much  excitement.  Some  were 
in  favor  of  the  work,  and  others  were  opposed  to  it.  A 
certain  Major  had  raised  a  "company  of  lewd  fellows  of  the 
baser  sort"  to  drive  us  from  the  ground.     On  Saturday,  while 


102  Life  of  William  McKcndrce. 

I  was  preaching,  the  Major  and  his  company  rode  into  the 
congregation  and  halted,  which  produced  considerable  con- 
fusion and  alarm.  I  stopped  preaching  for  a  moment  and 
quite  calmly  invited  them  to  be  off  with  themselves,  and  they 
retired  to  the  spring  for  a  fresh  drink  of  brandy.  The  Major 
said  that  he  had  heard  of  these  Methodists  before;  that  they 
always  broke  up  the  peace  of  the  people  wherever  they  went ; 
that  they  preached  against  horse-racing,  card-playing,  and 
every  other  kind  of  amusement.  However,  they  used  no  vio- 
lence against  us,  but  determined  to  camp  on  the  ground  and 
prevent  us  from  doing  harm.  But  at  three  o'clock,  while 
Brother  Goddard  and  I  were  singing  a  hymn,  an  awful  sense 
of  the  divine  power  fell  on  the  congregation.  Victory  was  on 
the  Lord's  side.  Many  were  converted,  and  by  sunrise  the  next 
morning  there  was  the  shout  of  a  king  in  the  camp.  It  was 
Sabbath  morning,  and  I  thought  it  the  most  beautiful  morning 
I  had  ever  seen.  At  eleven  o'clock  Brother  McKendree  ad- 
ministered the  holy  sacrament ;  and  while  he  was  dwelling 
upon  its  origin,  nature,  and  design,  some  of  the  ]\Iajor's  com- 
pany were  affected,  and  we  had  a  melting  time.  After  sacra- 
ment, Brother  McKendree  preached  to  a  large  congregation, 
all  the  principal  men  of  the  country  and  all  in  reach  who 
could  get  there  being  present.  His  text  was,  "Come,  let  us 
reason  together,"  and  perhaps  no  man  ever  managed  the 
subject  better  or  with  more  effect.  His  reasoning  on  the 
atonement,  the  great  plan  of  salvation,  and  the  love  of  God 
was  so  clear  and  strong  and  was  delivered  with  such  pathos 
that  the  congregation  involuntarily  arose  to  their  feet  and 
pressed  toward  him  from  all  parts.  While  he  was  preaching 
he  very  ingeniously  adverted  to  the  conduct  of  the  ^lajor, 
and  remarked :  "We  are  Americans,  and  some  of  us  have 
fought  for  our  liberty  and  have  come  here  to  teach  men  the 
way  to  heaven."  This  seemed  to  strike  the  Major,  and  he 
afterwards  became  friendly,  and  has  remained  so  ever  since. 

We  went  next  to  Goshen  camp  meeting.  Here  we  had 
comfortable  camps  and  an  arbor  in  the  form  of  an  "L"  large 
enough  to  shelter  seven  hundred  persons.  The  stand  was  in 
an  unsheltered  spot,  between  tlie  two  squares.     \\\'  had  also 


Taking  a  Fresh  Start  in  Kentucky.  103 

a  small  log  meetinghouse,  in  which  our  first  quarterly  meet- 
ing was  held.  Preaching  began  on  Friday  and  was  kept  up 
regularly.  The  people,  having  heard  of  the  revival  at  the 
other  meetings,  flocked  out  in  great  numbers,  many  to  see 
the  strange  work.  Some  brought  brandy  and  cards  for  their 
amusement  during  the  meeting.  On  Friday  and  Saturday  the 
word  preached  seemed  to  do  little  good.  An  awful  cloud 
seemed  to  rest  upon  us.  In  passing  the  door  of  the  preacher's 
tent  I  saw  Brother  McKendree  alone,  bathed  in  tears.  I 
stepped  in,  and  he  said  to  me :  "Brother,  we  have  been 
preaching  for  ourselves  and  not  for  the  Lord.  Go,  brother, 
and  preach  Christ  crucified  to  the  people."  My  heart  was 
deeply  affected.  We  fell  upon  our  knees  and  implored  the 
help  of  God.  This  was  about  sunset.  I  preached  at  candle- 
lighting.  My  text  was:  "Behold  the  man!"  It  commenced 
raining  shortly  after  I  began  to  preach;  and  as  the  audience 
was  under  shelter,  I  did  not  stop,  although  exposed  to  the 
rain.  My  heart  was  fired  and  my  tongue  loosened  in  an 
unusual  manner.  For  a  few  moments  nothing  but  sobs  and 
sighs  were  heard  among  the  people.  At  length  the  whole 
congregation  seemed  suddenly  smitten  with  the  power  of 
God.  Many  fell  as  in  battle,  and  were  presently  raised  to  tell 
of  pardoning  mercy  and  encourage  others  to  seek  the  Lord. 
We  continued  all  night  in  the  work.  On  the  next  day  (Sun- 
day), at  nine  o'clock  a.m.,  the  Lord's  Supper  was  admin- 
istered. It  was  a  memorable  day,  and  eternity  only  will  re- 
veal the  result.  On  Monday,  the  last  day  of  the  meeting,  one 
hundred  joined  the  Church. 

McKendree  also  gives  a  concise  account  of  this 
visitation  and  adds  some  interesting  facts.  The  first 
camp  meeting  mentioned,  being  beyond  the  Mississippi 
River,  was  in  Missouri  and  the  first  ever  held  in  that 
State.  In  getting  to  it  the  preachers  walked  about  forty 
miles  and  carried  their  saddlebags.  McKendree 
further  states:  "Four  Sabbaths  excepted,  I  have  at- 
tended popular  meetings  ever  since  February,  in  which 


I04  Life  of  William  McKendree. 

time  I  have  ridden  about  2,700  miles  through  tlie  wil- 
derness to  IlHnois  and  back,  spent  considerable  time  in 
the  most  sickly  part  of  that  and  this  country,  and  yet, 
blessed  be  God !  my  health  and  strength  have  been 
preserved." 

Up  to  this  time  no  Conference  had  been  held  in  the 
State  of  Ohio;  but  the  population  of  the  State,  which 
is  now  and  for  a  long  time  has  been  dominantly  Meth- 
odistic,  was  increasing  so  rapidly,  and  the  Church  was 
showing  such  signs  of  life  and  growth,  that  everybody 
felt  that  there  ought  to  be  a  gathering  of  the  itinerants 
somewhere  within  its  bounds.  It  was  an  eventful  day, 
that  14th  of  September,  1807,  when  they  convened  in 
Chillicothe.  Asbury,  as  usual,  chronicles  the  chief  in- 
cidents: *'0n  Monday  we  opened  our  Conference  in 
great  peace  and  love  and  continued  until  Friday.  A 
delegation  of  seven  members  was  chosen  to  the  Gen- 
eral Conference.  There  were  thirteen  preachers  added, 
and  we  found  an  addition  of  2,200  members  to  the  so- 
ciety in  these  bounds.  Seven  deacons  were  elected  and 
ordained  and  ten  elders.  Only  two  preachers  located. 
Sixty-five  were  stationed." 

As  the  General  Conference  was  not  yet  a  delegated 
body,  the  election  of  seven  delegates  was  purely  a 
voluntary  matter.  The  distance  to  Baltimore  was  so 
great  and  the  traveling  so  costly  that  most  of  the 
preachers  could  not  avail  themselves  of  their  right  to 
seats  in  the  chief  synod  of  the  Church ;  and  they, 
therefore,  wisely  agreed  to  choose  seven  men  who 
could  fitly  represent  them.  Of  these  seven,  only  five 
made  an  appearance  when  the  roll  was  called  in  May, 
1808.     William  McKendree  very  naturally  headed  the 


Taking  a  Fresh  Start  in  Kentucky.  105 

list.  The  other  four  were  William  Burke,  John  Sale, 
Benjamin  Lakin,  and  Elisha  W.  Bowman — a  goodly 
company. 

McKendree  was  no  doubt  returned  from  the  Con- 
ference to  the  Cumberland  District ;  but  as  the  General 
Minutes  were  not  published  till  after  his  election  to  the 
episcopacy  in  the  following  spring,  the  name  of  John 
Ward,  w^ho  succeeded  him,  is  put  down  in  that  place. 
As  this  year  closes  the  labors  of  McKendree  as  a  pre- 
siding elder,  it  is  well  to  note  the  progress  that  had 
been  made  in  the  Western  Conference  since  he  took 
charge  of  the  only  district  which  it  contained  in  1800. 
Then  there  were  1,741  members;  now  there  are  16,- 
887.  The  one  district  had  become  five,  and  the  four- 
teen preachers  had  become  sixty-six.  This  enlarge- 
ment,  too,  was  not  spasmodic,  but  normal  and  healthy. 
Wise  men  could  see  in  it  the  promise  of  yet  greater 
things.  The  Church  was  fairly  intrenched,  and  noth- 
ing short  of  a  great  moral  catastrophe  could  dislodge 
it. 


CHAPTER  IX. 
Elected  to  the  Episcopacy. 

I  HAVE  pointed  out  in  a  preceding  chapter  the  fact 
that  McKcndrcc  had  vokintarily  remained  away  from 
the  General  Conference  of  1804.  Still  he  was  not  a 
novice  in  the  matter  of  ecclesiastical  legislation ;  for 
he  had  been  a  member  of  the  Conferences  of  1792, 
1796,  and  1800,  and  in  the  last-mentioned  body  had 
taken  some  considerable  part.  But  he  was  now  in 
every  sense  of  the  term  a  more  capable  man  than  he 
had  been  on  any  of  the  former  occasions.  His  eight 
years  of  responsible  leadership  in  the  West  had  brought 
him  not  only  an  increased  depth  of  religious  experi- 
ence, but  also  a  wide  vision  of  the  wants  of  the  Church. 
Those  who  knew  him  intimately  knew  that  he  would 
make  his  mark  in  the  deliberations  and  discussions  of 
the  body ;  but  few,  if  any,  were  quite  prepared  to  see 
him  take  the  very  highest  rank  among  his  brethren. 

On  the  Sunday  before  the  Conference  began  he  was 
appointed  to  preach  in  the  Light  Street  Church.  A 
great  many  of  the  delegates  had  already  arrived  in  the 
city  and  were  present  to  hear  his  sermon.  It  is  au- 
thentically known  that  he  was  reluctant  to  undertake 
the  service.  When  he  stood  up  in  the  pulpit,  his  ap- 
pearance was  far  from  reassuring.  He  was  not  ar- 
rayed in  a  distinctly  clerical  garb.  His  clothes  were 
of  coarse  cloth  and  lacked  much  of  fitting  him.  The 
bottom  of  his  vest  barely  reached  the  top  of  his  trou- 
sers, and  when  he  grew  animated  his  red  flannel  shirt 

(106) 


Elected  to  tlve  Episcopacy.  107 

became  distinctly  visible.  Nor  were  matters  improved 
when  he  announced  his  hymn  and  began  his  oi:)ening 
prayer.  Nathan  Bangs,  who  was  in  the  audience, 
looked  on  him  with  rather  a  critical  eye  as  "an  awk- 
ward backwoodsman,"  and  writes  that  "he  seemed  to 
falter  in  his  speech,  clipping  some  of  his  words  at  the 
end  and  occasionally  hanging  upon  a  syllable  as  if  it 
were  difficult  for  him  to  pronounce  the  word."  His 
text  was  Jeremiah  viii.  21,  22:  "For  the  hurt  of  the 
daughter  of  my  people  am  I  hurt ;  I  am  black ;  aston- 
ishment hath  taken  hold  on  me.  Is  there  no  balm  in 
Gilead?  is  there  no  physician  there?  why  then  is  not 
the  health  of  the  daughter  of  my  people  recovered?" 
Dr.  Bangs  further  adds: 

His  introduction  appeared  tame,  his  sentences  broken  and 
disjointed,  and  his  elocution  very  defective.  He  at  length 
introduced  his  main  subject,  which  was  to  show  the  spiritual 
disease  of  the  Jewish  Church  and  of  the  human  family  gen- 
erally. And  then  he  entered  upon  his  second  proposition, 
which  was  to  analyze  the  feelings  which  such  a  state  of  things 
awakened  in  the  souls  of  God's  faithful  ambassadors.  But 
when  he  came  to  speak  of  the  blessed  effects  upon  the  heart 
of  the  balm  which  God  had  prepared  for  the  healing  of  the 
nations,  he  seemed  to  enter  fully  into  the  element  in  which 
his  soul  delighted  to  move  and  have  its  being,  and  he  soon 
carried  the  whole  congregation  away  with  him  into  the  re- 
gions of  experimental  religion. 

Remarking  upon  the  objections  which  some  would  make  to 
the  expression  of  the  feelings  realized  by  a  person  fully  re- 
stored to  health  by  an  application  of  the  "sovereign  balm  for 
every  wound,"  he  referred  to  the  shouts  of  applause  so  often 
heard  upon  our  national  jubilee  in  commemoration  of  our 
emancipation  from  political  thralldom,  and  then  said:  "How 
much  more  cause  has  an  immortal  soul  to  rejoice  and  give 
glory  to  God  for  its  spiritual  deliverance  from  the  bondage 


io8  Life  of  William  McKendree. 

of  sin !"  This  was  spoken  with  a  soul  overflowing  with  the 
most  hallowed  and  exalted  feelings  and  with  an  emphasis 
that  was  like  the  sudden  bursting  of  a  cloud  surcharged  with 
water.  The  congregation  was  instantly  overwhelmed  with  a 
shower  of  divine  grace  from  the  upper  world.  At  first  sudden 
shrieks,  as  of  persons  in  distress,  were  heard  in  different  parts 
of  the  house,  then  shouts  of  praise,  and  in  every  direction 
sobs  and  groans.  The  eyes  of  the  people  overflowed  with 
tears,  while  many  were  prostrated  upon  the  floor  or  lay  help- 
less on  the  seats.  A  very  large,  athletic-looking  preacher, 
sitting  by  my  side,  suddenly  fell  upon  his  seat  as  if  pierced 
by  a  bullet,  and  I  felt  my  heart  melting  under  emotions  which 
I  could  not  resist. 

After  this  sudden  shower  the  clouds  were  dispersed,  and 
the  Sun  of  Righteousness  shone  out  most  serenely  and  delight- 
fully, producing  upon  all  a  present  consciousness  of  the  divine 
approbation.  When  the  preacher  descended  from  the  pulpit, 
all  were  filled  with  admiration  of  his  talents  and  were  ready 
to  "magnify  the  grace  of  God  in  him,"  as  a  chosen  messenger 
of  good  tidings  to  the  lost,  saying  in  their  hearts:  "This  is  the 
man  whom  God  delights  to  honor." 

It  is  proper  at  this  point  to  let  McKendree's  best  and 
fullest  biographer  speak : 

With  the  exception  of  Mr.  Asbury,  no  preacher  in  the 
connection  combined  so  many  qualifications  for  the  office  of 
bishop  as  did  McKendree.  His  piety  was  deep  and  uniform. 
He  was  single-hearted,  magnanimous,  generous,  and  of  most 
refined  and  exquisite  sensibility.  With  the  discipline  and 
government  of  the  Church  he  was  thoroughly  acquainted, 
probably  more  familiar  with  ecclesiastical  law  than  any  of 
his  contemporaries.  As  a  preacher  he  was  inferior  to  none 
in  the  clear  comprehension  and  able  advocacy  of  doctrines,  in 
lucid  and  natural  descriptions  of  religious  emotions,  and  in 
close  and  searching  application  of  Christian  ethics  to  their 
practical  developments  in  the  daily  walks  of  life,  while  in  the 
power  and  effectiveness  of  his  ministrations  he  stood  as  a 
prince  among  his  brethren.     Nor  was  there  any  rudeness  in 


Elected  to  the  Episcopacy.  109 

his  manners.  He  had  enjoyed  the  benefit  of  highly  cultivated 
society  in  the  Old  Dominion — was  acquainted  with  the  courte- 
sies of  social  life.  And  without  sacrificing  the  simplicity  of 
his  character,  there  was  something  in  his  manners  which  won 
the  esteem  of  all  with  whom  he  came  in  contact  and  im- 
pressed them  with  the  conviction  that,  while  he  was  a  true 
gentleman,  he  was  also  a  true  and  noble  specimen  of  the 
Christian  minister.  His  fine  personal  appearance — about  six 
feet  tall,  exquisitely  proportioned — his  beaming,  prominent, 
mild,  dark  eyes,  black  hair,  delicate  white  skin,  and  noble 
Grecian  contour  of  face  and  forehead  were  remarkably  pre- 
possessing. His  voice  was  clear,  soft,  and  highly  musical. 
And  when,  in  his  happiest  moments  in  the  pulpit,  I  have 
looked  into  his  face,  all  radiant  with  intellect  and  smiling  in 
every  feature  with  the  reflected  piety  and  benignity  of  his  full 
and  happy  soul,  and  listened  to  the  accents  of  that  most  lute- 
like and  persuasive  voice,  I  have  thought  that  I  never  heard 
such  a  voice  or  so  felt  the  charm  of  truth  and  the  attractions 
of  piety.  The  whole  man  seemed  to  speak.  And  then  there 
was  associated  with  the  words  he  uttered  his  long,  self-sacri- 
ficing career,  his  unsuspected  purity  of  life,  his  unmurmuring 
submission  to  hardships  for  the  purpose  of  preaching  Christ, 
and  his  daily  exemplification  of  the  power  and  loveliness  of 
pure  religion. 

Bishop  Asbury  was  present  and  was  heard  to  say, 
'That  sermon  will  make  him  a  bishop,"  and  his  pre- 
diction proved  true.  Bishop  Whatcoat,  much  beloved 
by  everybody,  had  died  on  July  5,  1806,  at  the  resi- 
dence of  his  friend,  Judge  Bassett,  at  Dover,  Dela., 
in  the  seventy-second  year  of  his  age ;  and  it  was  neces- 
sary that  at  least  one  new  bishop  should  be  chosen. 
Ezekiel  Cooper  wanted  seven,  one  for  each  Confer- 
ence. Others  were  much  in  favor  of  two  or  more. 
But  the  Conference  by  a  decided  vote  determined  on 
one  only.    On  the  12th  of  May,  by  a  vote  of  ninety-five 


no  Life  of  IVilliaDi  McKcndrcc. 

out  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-eight,  McKendree  was 
chosen,  and  on  the  i8th  was  ordained  by  Bishop  As- 
bury,  assisted  by  Jesse  Lee,  Freeborn  Garrettson, 
Thomas  Ware,  and  PhiHp  Bruce.  He  was  the  first 
native  American  to  be  so  honored,  and  until  the  com- 
ing of  Joshua  Soule  was  undoubtedly  the  greatest  man 
to  occupy  the  ofiice. 

Coke  was  in  South  Wales  when  he  heard  the  news 
of  McKendree's  election,  and  wrote  him  the  following 
characteristic  letter  of  date  October  5,  1808: 

To  Bishop  McKendree: 

I  write  to  you,  my  very  dear  brother  and  friend,  not  to 
congratulate  you  on  your  election  to  the  office  of  bishop  (for 
I  believe  you  regard  not  office  nor  honor  any  further  than 
you  may  serve  God  thereby),  but  to  express  my  regard  for 
you  and  the  pleasure  I  feel  (notwithstanding  what  I  have 
written  above)  at  your  being  united  to  my  old  and  venerable 
brother,  Asbury,  in  the  great  work  in  which  he  is  engaged. 
I  am  persuaded  that  God  has  chosen  you  to  help  my  dear 
brother  and  that  you  will  go  on  with  him  in  perfect  union 
in  blessing  the  American  Continent  under  divine  grace. 

You  are  mild;  you  are  moderately  and  properly  reserved 
and  do  not  aim  at  an  overbearing  exercise  of  power.  I  have 
not  had  a  large  acquaintance  with  you ;  but  your  person  and 
your  voice  are  as  fresh  to  me  as  if  3'ou  were  now  with  me  in 
the  same  room,  and  I  greatly  mistake  if  I  do  not  taste  your 
spirit.  Go  on,  brother,  walking  with  God  and  united  to  him. 
Your  field  of  action  is  great.  You  have,  perhaps,  ten  thou- 
sand pulpits  open  to  you.  But  the  grand  point  which  must 
be  engraved  continually  on  your  forehead,  as  it  were,  and  oti 
your  heart  is  the  harmony  and  union  of  the  Methodist  Con- 
nection in  America.  God  bless  you!  My  dearest  wife  joins 
me  in  love  to  you.     Pray  for  us. 

This  General  Conference  of  1808  was  epochal  in 
many    respects,   chiefly    in   this :    that    it   framed    and 


Elected  to  the  Episcopacy.  iii 

enacted  the  written  constitution  under  which  the 
Church  has  since  Hved.  Up  to  that  time  these  quadren- 
nial assemblies  were  simply  mass  conventions  of  the 
whole  body  of  traveling  ministers,  with  full  and  un- 
restricted authority  to  take  any  action  that  might  seem 
proper.  They  could  by  a  mere  majority  vote  alter  or 
abolish  the  Discipline  or  change  the  doctrines  of  the 
Church.  The  fact  that  they  had  not  as  yet  undertaken 
to  adopt  any  such  radical  measures  was  no  guaranty 
that  they  would  not  do  so  in  the  future.  The  stability 
of  the  Church  and  its  institutions  could  not  wisely  be 
allowed  to  depend  on  the  varying  judgment  of  a  mere 
popular  assembly,  especially  when  it  was  certain  that 
this  assembly  would  be  made  up  in  large  measure  from 
the  few  central  Conferences  that  were  close  to  Balti- 
more. 

It  is  not  strange,  therefore,  that  the  New  York, 
New  England,  Western,  and  Southern  Conferences 
should  have  sent  up  a  memorial  embodying  the  fol- 
lowing statement:  "We  are  deeply  impressed  with  the 
thorough  conviction  that  a  representative  or  delegated 
General  Conference,  composed  of  a  specific  number  on 
principles  of  equal  representation  from  the  Annual 
Conferences,  would  be  much  more  conducive  to  the 
prosperity  and  general  unity  of  the  whole  body  than 
the  present  indefinite  and  numerous  body  of  ministers 
collected  together  unequally  from  the  various  Confer- 
ences, to  the  great  inconvenience  of  the  ministry  and 
damage  of  the  work  of  God." 

This  memorial  was  presented  on  May  9,  three  days 
after  the  General  Conference  had  assembled.  On  the 
next  day  a  motion  was  introduced  by  Stephen  G.  Ros- 
8 


112  Life  of  William  McKcndrce. 

zell,  of  the  Baltimore  Conference,  and  William  Burke, 
of  the  Western  Conference,  to  the  effect  that  a  com- 
mittee be  appointed  "to  draw  up  such  regulations  as 
they  may  think  best  to  regulate  the  General  Confer- 
ence." Bishop  Asbury,  who  was  greatly  in  favor  of 
the  proposed  action,  interposed  with  another  motion 
to  the  effect  ''that  the  committee  be  formed  of  an 
equal  number  from  each  of  the  Annual  Conferences." 
Up  to  that  time  the  bishops,  of  course,  had  the  same 
right  to  take  part  in  the  deliberations  of  the  Confer- 
ence as  the  other  preachers.  In  his  admirable  "Con- 
stitutional History"  Bishop  Tigert  says :  "This  motion 
of  Bishop  Asbury  was  excellent  parliamentary  tactics, 
for  it  insured  to  the  memorialists  a  majority  of  the 
committee  for  which  they  asked.  Had  the  committee 
been  miscellaneously  selected,  the  character  of  the  plan 
brought  in  for  the  action  of  the  Conference  would 
have  been  very  doubtful."  The  motion  of  Asbury 
prevailed,  and  it  was  later  determined  that  the  com- 
mittee should  be  composed  of  two  members  from  each 
of  the  Annual  Conferences:  Ezekiel  Cooper  and  John 
Wilson,  from  the  New  York ;  George  Pickering  and 
Joshua  Soule,  from  the  New  England ;  William  ]\Ic- 
Kendree  and  William  Burke,  from  the  Western ;  Wil- 
liam Phoebus  and  Josiah  Randle,  from  the  South  Caro- 
lina ;  Philip  Bruce  and  Jesse  Lee,  from  the  Virginia ; 
Stephen  G.  Roszell  and  Nelson  Reed,  from  the  Balti- 
more ;  and  John  McClaskey  and  Thomas  Ware,  from 
the  Philadelphia  Conference.  These  were  all  picked 
men  and  competent,  if  anybody  was,  to  handle  the  mat- 
ter under  consideration. 

At  its  first  session  this  committee,  after  conversing 


Elected  to  the  Episcopacy.  113 

largely  on  the  whole  subject,  appointed  a  subcommit- 
tee of  three — Cooper,  Soule,  and  Bruce — to  mature 
and  bring  in  a  plan  for  consideration ;  and  this  sub- 
committee on  meeting  determined  that  each  one  of  the 
three  should  write  out  his  own  views  and  present  them 
the  next  day.  When  the  day  came,  both  Soule  and 
Cooper  had  their  papers  ready,  but  Bruce  had  written 
nothing.  After  considerable  debate,  Bruce  agreed 
with  Soule,  and  Cooper  finally  yielded  to  them,  but  not 
till  he  had  warmly  advocated  his  own  views.  The 
main  point  of  difference  touched  what  is  now  the  third 
restrictive  rule.  Cooper's  suggestion  ran  in  these 
words :  ''They  shall  not  do  away  with  episcopacy, 
nor  reduce  our  ministry  to  a  Presbyterial  parity." 
This  was  open  to  the  objection  that  it  did  not  define 
the  sort  of  episcopacy  it  was  intended  to  protect. 
Soule,  on  the  other  hand,  insisted  on  this  language: 
"The  General  Conference  shall  not  change  or  alter  any 
part  of  our  government,  so  as  to  do  away  with  epis- 
copacy or  destroy  the  plan  of  our  itinerant  general 
superintendency."  Under  this  provision  any  attempt 
to  create  a  diocesan  episcopacy  or  to  alter  any  essen- 
tial feature  of  the  then  existing  general  superintend- 
ency would,  of  course,  be  an  Infraction  of  the  consti- 
tution, a  fact  which  Cooper  and  all  concerned  very 
well  knew.  It  was  a  specific  form  of  episcopacy  that 
Soule  wanted  to  guard. 

The  report  of  the  subcommittee  was  accepted  by  the 
whole  committee  and  on  the  morning  of  the  i6th  was 
presented  to  the  General  Conference.  Its  importance 
justifies  its  reproduction  here: 


114  Life  of  William  McKendrce. 

1.  The  General  Conference  shall  be  composed  of  delegates 
from  the  Annual  Conferences. 

2.  The  delegates  shall  be  chosen  by  ballot,  without  debate, 
in  the  Annual  Conferences  respectively,  in  the  last  meeting  of 
the  Conference  previous  to  the  meeting  of  the  General  Con- 
ference. 

3.  E^ch  Annual  Conference  respectively  shall  have  a  right 
to  send  seven  elders,  members  of  their  Conference,  as  dele- 
gates to  the  General  Conference. 

4.  Each  Annual  Conference  shall  have  a  right  to  send  one 
delegate,  in  addition  to  the  seven,  for  every  ten  members 
belonging  to  such  Conference  over  and  above  fifty — so  that 
if  there  be  sixty  members,  they  shall  send  eight;  if  seventy, 
they  shall  send  nine ;  and  so  on  in  proportion. 

5.  The  General  Conference  shall  meet  on  the  first  day  of 
May,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  eighteen  hundred  and  twelve, 
and  thenceforward  on  the  first  day  of  May  once  in  four 
years  perpetuall}-,  at  such  place  or  places  as  shall  be  fixed  on 
by  the  General  Conference  from  time  to  time. 

6.  At  all  times,  when  the  General  Conference  is  met,  it 
shall  take  two-thirds  of  the  whole  number  of  delegates  to  form 
a  quorum. 

7.  One  of  the  original  general  superintendents  shall  preside 
in  the  General  Conference ;  but  in  case  no  general  superin- 
tendent is  present,  the  General  Conference  shall  choose  a 
president  pro  tern. 

8.  The  General  Conference  shall  have  full  power  to  make 
rules,  regulations,  and  canons  for  our  Church  under  the  fol- 
lowing limitations  and  restrictions,  viz. : 

The  General  Conference  shall  not  revoke,  alter,  or  change 
our  Articles  of  Religion  nor  establish  any  new  standards  of 
doctrine. 

They  shall  not  lessen  the  number  of  seven  delegates  from 
each  Annual  Conference,  nor  allow  of  a  greater  number  from 
any  Annual  Conference  than  is  provided  in  the  fourth  para- 
graph of  this  section. 

They  shall   not   change   or  alter  any  part   or   rule   of  our 


Elected  to  the  Episcopacy.  115 

government  so  as  to  do  away  episcopacy  or  to  destroy  the 
plan  of  our  itinerant  general  superintendency. 

They  shall  not  revoke  or  change  the  General  Rules  of  the 
United  Societies. 

They  shall  not  do  away  the  privileges  of  our  ministers  or 
preachers  of  trial  by  a  committee  and  an  appeal ;  neither  shall 
they  do  away  the  privileges  of  our  members  of  trial  before 
the  society,  or  by  a  committee,  and  of  an  appeal. 

They  shall  not  appropriate  the  produce  of  the  Book  Concern 
or  of  the  Chartered  Fund  to  any  purpose  other  than  for  the 
benefit  of  the  traveling,  superannuated,  supernumerary,  and 
worn-out  preachers,  their  wives,  widows,  and  children. 

Provided,  nevertheless,  that  upon  the  joint  recommendation 
of  all  the  Annual  Conferences,  then  a  majority  of  two-thirds 
of  the  General  Conference  succeeding  shall  suffice  to  alter 
any  of  the  above  restrictions. 

A  whole  day  of  discussion  followed.  To  the  general 
surprise,  Jesse  Lee  opposed  the  report,  and  that  on  a 
mere  side  issue,  insisting-  that  the  delegates  should  be 
chosen,  not  by  ballot,  but  by  the  law  of  seniority. 
Others  followed  his  lead  and  attacked  different  pro- 
visions of  the  plan.  Late  in  the  afternoon,  by  a  par- 
liamentary process  that  would  not  now  be  held  in  or- 
der, Ezekiel  Cooper  and  Joshua  Wells  oftered  an  awk- 
wardly framed  motion,  which  was  carried,  "to  post- 
pone the  present  question  to  make  room  for  the  con- 
sideration of  a  new  resolution  as  preparatory  to  the 
minds  of  the  brethren  to  determine  on  the  present  sub- 
ject." The  new  resolution  ran  as  follows :  "Each  An- 
nual Conference  respectively  without  debate  shall  an- 
nually choose  by  ballot  its  own  presiding  elders."  It 
was  an  attempt  to  take  away  from  the  bishops  in  large 
part  the  power  of  appointment,  which  had  always  up  to 
that  time  been  held  to  inhere  in  the  episcopacy.    There 


ii6  Life  of  William  McKendree. 

was  much  debate.  But  at  last  the  resolution  was  de- 
feated by  a  vote  of  y^  to  52.  Just  at  this  juncture 
further  action  was  interrupted  and  McKendree  was 
ordained.  It  was  not  strange,  therefore,  that,  having 
been  inducted  under  such  circumstances,  he  should 
have  in  1820  and  always  looked  upon  any  limitation 
of  the  episcopal  power  of  appointment  as  an  invasion 
of  the  constitution. 

On  Wednesday  afternoon,  the  i8th  inst.,  it  was 
moved  and  carried  that  the  vote  on  the  first  resolution 
of  the  committee's  report  should  be  at  once  taken  and 
by  ballot.  When  the  ballot  w^as  counted,  it  was  found 
that  the  resolution  had  failed  of  adoption  by  a  vote  of 
64  to  57.  This  was  equivalent  to  the  defeat  of  the 
whole  measure.  Great  excitement  followed.  The 
most  of  the  New  Englanders  withdrew  from  the  Con- 
ference and  began  preparations  to  go  home,  counting 
their  further  presence  useless ;  and  the  Westerners 
were  in  no  comfortable  frame  of  mind.  It  really 
looked  as  if  the  whole  Church  might  go  to  pieces.  But 
the  w^ise  counsels  of  Asbury,  ^IcKendree,  and  Red- 
ding prevailed,  and  the  dissatisfied  brethren  concluded 
to  remain  a  little  longer  to  see  if  something  could  not 
yet  be  done. 

^Matters  stood  in  that  shape  from  Wednesday  till  the 
following  ]\Ionday  morning. 

When  Monday's  session  came  on,  Leonard  Cassel 
and  Stephen  G.  Roszell  moved  that  the  question  of  the 
place  for  holding  the  next  General  Conference  be  de- 
layed "till  it  shall  be  determined  who  will  compose  the 
General  Conference."  This  was  virtually  a  recon- 
sideration of  the  whole  subject.    The  motion  prevailed, 


Elected  to  the  Episcopacy.  117 

and  George  and  Roszell  next  moved  "that  the  General 
Conference  shall  be  composed  of  one  member  for 
every  five  members  of  each  Annual  Conference."  This 
was  a  brief  and  effective  substitute  for  the  third  and 
fourth  items  of  the  report  and  was  "carried  by  a  large 
majority."  Joshua  Soule,  to  close  the  mouth  of  Jesse 
Lee,  next  moved  to  further  amend  the  second  item  of 
the  report  as  follows :  "Each  Annual  Conference  shall 
have  the  power  of  sending  their  proportionate  number 
of  members  to  the  General  Conference  either  by  sen- 
iority or  choice  as  they  shall  see  best."  Lee  laughed 
at  this  "Yankee  trick,"  though  he  did  not  enjoy  it ;  and 
on  the  next  day,  seconded  by  William  Burke,  he  for- 
mally moved  the  adoption  of  the  whole  report  as 
amended.  Thus  was  accomplished  what,  on  the  whole, 
was  the  greatest  and  most  useful  piece  of  legislation 
ever  enacted  by  a  Methodist  General  Conference. 
Thereafter  every  part  of  the  Church  was  guaranteed 
a  fair  share  of  influence  in  controlling  and  determining 
all  measures  of  importance,  and  the  whole  body  of  the 
Church  was  assured  that  no  temporary  gust  of  passion 
or  excitement  would  be  able  to  overturn  or  even  shake 
the  foundations  which  the  fathers  had  laid.  The  work 
of  1784  was  crowned  and  completed  in  a  manner  which 
the  experience  of  twenty  years  had  found  to  be  neces- 
sary. It  is  easy  to  see  now  that  any  further  delay  in 
the  premises  would  certainly  have  been  unwise  and 
might  have  been  fatal. 

The  exact  action  of  the  Conference  In  all  its  details 
was  skillfully  gathered  up  and  put  together  by  the 
editor  of  the  Discipline  of  1808.    It  runs  as  follows: 


ii8  Life  of  William  McKendrce. 

Question  2.  Who  shall  compose  the  General  Conference, 
and  what  are  the  regulations  and  powers  belonging  to  it? 

Ansuier  i.  The  General  Conference  shall  be  composed  of 
one  member  for  every  five  members  of  each  Annual  Con- 
ference, to  be  appointed  either  by  seniority  or  choice,  at  the 
discretion  of  such  Annual  Conference;  yet  so  that  such  rep- 
resentatives shall  have  traveled  at  least  four  full  calendar 
years  from  the  time  that  they  arc  received  on  trial  by  an  An- 
nual Conference  and  are  in  full  connection  at  the  time  of 
holding  the  Conference. 

2.  The  General  Conference  shall  meet  on  the  first  day  of 
May,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1812,  in  the  city  of  New  York, 
and  thenceforward  on  the  first  day  of  May  once  in  four  years, 
perpetually,  in  such  place  or  places  as  shall  be  fixed  on  by  the 
General  Conference  from  time  to  time.  But  the  general  su- 
perintendents, with  or  by  the  advice  of  all  the  Annual  Con- 
ferences, or,  if  there  be  no  general  superintendent,  all  the 
Annual  Conferences  respectively,  shall  have  power  to  call  a 
General  Conference,  if  they  judge  it  necessary,  at  any  time. 

3.  At  all  times  when  the  General  Conferences  meet  it  shall 
take  two-thirds  of  the  representatives  of  all  the  Annual  Con- 
ferences to  make  a  quorum  for  transacting  business. 

4.  One  of  the  general  superintendents  shall  preside  in  the 
General  Conference;  but  in  case  no  general  superintendent  be 
present  the  General  Conference  shall  choose  a  president  pro 
tempore. 

5.  The  General  Conference  shall  have  full  powers  to  make 
rules  and  regulations  for  our  Church  under  the  following  limi- 
tations and  restrictions — viz. : 

(i)  The  General  Conference  shall  not  revoke,  alter,  or 
change  our  Articles  of  Religion,  nor  establish  any  new  stand- 
ards or  rules  of  doctrine  contrary  to  our  present  existing  and 
established  standards  of  doctrine. 

(2)  They  shall  not  allow  of  more  than  one  representative 
for  every  five  members  of  the  Annual  Conference,  nor  allow 
of  a  less  number  than  one  for  every  seven. 

(3)  They  shall  not  change  or  alter  any  part  or  rule  of  our 


Elected  to  the  Episcopacy.  119 

government,  so  as  to  do  away  with  episcopacy  or  destroy  the 
plan  of  our  itinerant  general  superintendency. 

(4)  They  shall  not  revoke  or  change  the  General  Rules  of 
the  United  Societies. 

(5)  They  shall  not  do  away  the  privileges  of  our  minis- 
ters or  preachers  of  trial  by  a  committee  and  of  an  appeal. 
Neither  shall  they  do  away  the  privileges  of  our  members 
of  trial  before  the  society  or  by  a  committee  and  of  an  appeal. 

(6)  They  shall  not  appropriate  the  produce  of  the  Book 
Concern  nor  of  the  Chartered  Fund  to  any  purpose  other 
than  for  the  benefit  of  the  traveling,  supernumerary,  super- 
annuated, and  worn-out  preachers,  their  wives,  widows,  and 
children. 

Provided,  nevertheless,  that  upon  the  joint  recommenda- 
tion of  all  the  Annual  Conferences,  then  a  majority  of  two- 
thirds  of  the  General  Conference  succeeding  shall  suffice  to 
alter  any  of  the  above  restrictions. 


CHAPTER  X. 

First  Quadrennium  in  the  Episcopacy. 

The  General  Conference  of  1808  having  come  to 
an  end,  the  two  bishops  did  not  linger  long  in  Balti- 
more or  its  vicinity,  but  started  at  once  for  the  West. 
Asbury  took  the  route  through  Maryland,  Penn- 
sylvania, Ohio,  and  Kentucky,  with  trusty  Henry 
Eoehm  as  his  traveling  companion,  and  preaching  as 
he  went.  McKendree  followed  the  somewhat  directer 
route  across  the  full  length  of  Virginia  and  Tennes- 
see, reaching  the  neighborhood  of  Nashville  early  in 
July.  As  the  Conference  was  not  to  meet  till  October 
I,  he  concluded  to  make  a  side  trip  to  Illinois  and  Mis- 
souri. Moving  forward,  therefore,  through  the  south- 
western part  of  Kentucky,  he  crossed  the  Ohio  River 
on  July  19  and  entered  the  wilderness.  Five  other  per- 
sons accompanied  him:  J.  Ward,  T.  Lasly,  Z.  Mad- 
dox,  M.  Shelby,  and  J.  White.  Xot  all  of  them  were 
ministers.  Shelby  was  a  sort  of  adventurer.  He  was 
a  younger  brother  of  Gov.  Isaac  Shelby,  of  Kentucky, 
had  been  a  brave  soldier  in  the  Revolutionary  War, 
and  was  ready  for  any  enterprise  that  held  the  promise 
of  new  excitement.  The  company  carried  provisions 
for  four  days,  enough  to  last  them  until  they  should 
reach  the  first  settlement.  McKendree's  own  account 
of  the  journey  is  very  graphic  and  will  abundantly 
bear  repeating.  "Lying  out,"  he  says,  "was  no  hard- 
ship, but  the  water  was  extremely  bad  and  the  flics 
intolerable.  Some  persons  had  attempted  to  go  through 
(120) 


First  Qiiadrennium  in  the  Episcopacy.         121 

the  prairies  and  had  turned  back  and  advised  us  not 
to  try  it ;  but  we  resolved  to  go,  trusting  in  the  Lord. 
On  the  third  day  the  flies  afflicted  us  sorely,  when  a 
kind  Providence  sent  a  strong  breeze  and  blew  them 
all  away.  After  twelve  hours  a  shower  of  rain  suc- 
ceeded and  blessed  man  and  beast  with  water  to  drink. 
On  Friday  a  little  after  dark  we  got  to  Brother  Scott's, 
in  the  settlement.  The  old  people  were  gone  to  the 
camp  meeting,  about  fifteen  miles  off,  but  the  children 
received  and  treated  us  kindly.  On  Saturday  morn- 
ing one  of  the  most  affecting  scenes  I  ever  witnessed 
occurred.  As  we  drew  near  to  the  encampment  about 
thirty  of  the  neighbors  fell  in  with  us.  We  rode  two 
deep,  and  a  number  of  excellent  singers  went  in  front. 
We  were  all  glad,  and  as  we  moved  they  sang  de- 
lightfully with  the  spirit  and  the  understanding.  As 
we  approached  the  congregation  met  us  with  open 
arms  and  welcomed  us  in  the  name  of  the  Lord.  The 
Lord  was  in  the  midst  of  us,  and  it  was  like  sitting  In 
a  heavenly  place." 

As  soon  as  this  meeting  closed  McKendree  and  his 
companions  crossed  the  Mississippi  and  went  to  a  camp 
meeting  in  the  Missouri  Circuit,  where  a  good  begin- 
ning had  been  made  the  preceding  year,  and  thence  to 
a  meeting  near  a  French  village  beyond  the  Missouri 
not  far  from  St.  Charles.  On  the  return  trip  the  party 
recrossed  the  Mississippi  at  St.  Louis,  then  a  strug- 
gling village,  and  proceeded  first  to  Goshen  and  from 
there  to  Big  Spring,  at  each  of  which  places  they 
preached  for  several  days  with  most  gratifying  re- 
sults. McKendree  was  especially  pleased  to  note  the 
fact  that  the  fruit  of  his  labors  In  the  preceding  year 


122  Life  of  William  McKendrcc. 

was  still  visible.  Leaving  Big  Spring,  they  rode  forty- 
five  miles,  "lodged  in  the  wilderness,  and  rested  in 
peace."  The  two  following  days  and  nights  they  spent 
in  the  same  way.  Recrossing  the  Ohio  at  the  end  of 
the  third  day,  they  went  straight  to  successive  camp 
meetings  in  Southern  Kentucky  and  Middle  Tennes- 
see and  took  an  active  part  in  them. 

The  food  of  AIcKendree  and  his  companions  on  the 
larger  part  of  this  journey  had  been  only  coarse  bread 
and  flesh  broiled  on  sticks  at  the  open  fires.  When  he 
got  back  to  the  home  of  his  old  friend  Gwin,  at  Foun- 
tain Head,  about  September  i,  he  had  traveled  on  horse- 
back more  than  1,500  miles.  That  was  pretty  stren- 
uous work  for  the  first  four  months  of  his  episcopacy. 
It  is  not  surprising  that  he  was  ''worn  down  with  fa- 
tigue and  exposure"  and  that  for  more  than  two  weeks 
he  was  too  sick  to  be  out  of  bed.  Going  at  that  gait, 
even  the  strongest  man  could  not  easily  hold  up. 

By  October  i,  however,  McKendree  was  again  on 
his  feet  and  ready  for  the  Conference  at  Liberty  Hill, 
in  Wilson  Cotmty,  twelve  miles  due  east  of  Nashville, 
the  first  of  the  year.  Both  he  and  Asbury,  who  was 
too  weak  to  stay  in  one  of  the  camp  meeting  tents, 
were  the  guests  of  Col.  Green  Hill,  in  whose  old  home 
in  North  Carolina  the  first  Annual  Conference  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  America  had  been  held 
in  the  fall  of  1784.  Colonel  Hill  was  a  notably  good 
man,  prominent  both  as  a  citizen  and  as  a  local  minis- 
ter, and  the  ancestor  of  several  generations  of  worthy 
people. 

During  the  whole  Conference  Asbury  was  sick  and 
weak  and  left  the  presidency  largely  to  McKendree, 


First  Quadrennium  in  the  Episcopacy.  123 

reserving  to  himself,  however,  the  stationing  of  the 
preachers.  This  was  doubtless  a  wise  distribution  of 
labors,  for  McKendree  from  the  beginning  of  his  epis- 
copal career  was  very  able  in  the  chair.  It  is  likely, 
in  fact,  that  not  even  Joshua  Soule  nor  Holland  N.  Mc- 
Tyeire  surpassed  him  in  the  easy  administration  of 
parliamentary  law. 

The  question  of  slavery  came  up  and  was  discussed 
with  no  little  feeling.  The  General  Conference  of 
1808  had  passed  an  enactment  ''authorizing  the  An- 
nual Conferences  to  form  their  own  regulations  rela- 
tive to  buying  and  selling  slaves,"  and  the  bishops 
were  now  asked  to  give  each  a  written  opinion  as  to 
what  course  ought  to  be  pursued.  Bishop  Asbury  ac- 
cordingly read  a  paper,  suggesting  caution  and  modera- 
ation  and  discouraging  legislation  on  the  vexed  ques- 
tion. When  he  finished,  there  was  an  evident  indica- 
tion of  dissatisfaction.  Indeed,  it  is  said  that  the 
audience  hissed  him.  The  good  old  bishop  replied, 
suiting  the  action  to  the  word:  "O  well,  I  can  tear  it 
up."  Bishop  McKendree  then  read  his  opinion,  which 
substantially  favored  the  rule  so  long  in  existence  in 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  the  Conference 
acted  in  accordance  with  his  suggestions,  though  there 
was  a  large  dissenting  minority,  which  embraced  some 
of  the  best  men  in  the  Conference. 

Apart  from  slavery,  the  business  of  the  Conference 
went  smoothly.  Nearly  a  hundred  preachers  were 
present  from  Holston,  Natchez,  Opelousas,  Missouri, 
Illinois,  Ohio,  Kentucky,  and  Tennessee.  They  were 
seasoned  soldiers,  inured  to  toil  and  hardship.  The 
most  of  them  had  traveled  long  distances  to  reach  the 


124  Life  of  William  McKcndrcc. 

gathering  and  were  worn  with  fatigue  and  self- 
denial.  Nearly  to  a  man  they  were  very  poor.  That 
was  what  they  had  expected  when  they  entered  the 
itinerancy,  and  it  did  not  cause  them  to  falter.  Never 
was  there  a  band  of  men  better  fitted  to  their  surround- 
ings nor  happier  in  the  discharge  of  their  duties. 

The  South  Carolina  Conference  was  next  in  order. 
It  was  set  for  December  26  at  Liberty  Chapel,  Greene 
County,  Ga.,  near  the  present  city  of  Greensboro. 
To  reach  it  the  two  bishops  traveled  between  1,000  and 
1,200  miles,  the  most  of  the  way  in  a  dilapidated  thirty- 
dollar  chaise,  and  the  rest  of  it  on  horseback.  Cross- 
ing the  Cumberland  ^Mountains,  they  went  on  through 
Knoxville,  up  the  French  Broad  River  to  Asheville, 
N.  C,  where  Asbury  preached  in  the  courthouse,  and 
over  the  Blue  Ridge  and  the  South  Fork  of  the  Cataw- 
ba River  to  Williamson's  camp  meeting,  which  they 
reached  on  November  11.  Turning  thence  into  South 
Carolina,  they  rode  through  Camden  and  other  places 
tc  Charleston,  and  from  that  city  to  Augusta,  Ga.,  and 
still  farther  to  the  home  of  John  Bush,  near  the  seat 
of  the  Conference.  The  mere  recital  of  the  successive 
steps  of  such  a  journey  gives  no  conception  of  its  dif- 
ficulties. The  roads  were  miserable  and  the  accom- 
modations usually  poor.  But  the  bishops  endured  all 
these  things  uncomplainingly.  More  than  this,  they 
preached  scores  of  times  along  the  route,  and,  indeed, 
were  gravely  distressed  whenever  a  day  passed  with- 
out an  opportunity  to  proclaim  the  gospel.  More  than 
once  we  find  them  complaining  that  the  preachers  and 
presiding  elders  through  whose  charges  they  had  passed 
had  failed  to  give  proper  notice  of  their  coming  and 


First  Quadrennium  in  the  Episcopacy.         125 

to  gather  congregations  for  them.  A  httle  later  than 
the  present  time  IMcKendree  records  in  his  journal 
that  in  the  course  of  a  single  week  he  had  preached  to 
nine  little  and  lonely  congregations  in  the  northern  part 
of  New  York.  He  did  not  wait  for  great  crowds,  but 
was  ready  to  break  the  bread  of  life  to  even  a  handful 
of  hungry  souls.  Bishop  Paine,  who  had  studied  his 
earlier  journals  very  closely,  and  who  often  traveled 
with  him  in  his  later  years,  makes  this  general  remark : 
"He  seems  for  months  to  have  preached  and  traveled 
almost  every  day  when  not  actually  holding  Confer- 
ences. Midwinter  and  summer  were  in  this  respect 
alike  to  him.  Thus  in  November,  1810,  he  had  no 
rest  day;  in  December,  two;  in  January,  181 1,  two; 
in  February,  none ;  in  Alarch,  two ;  in  April,  none ; 
in  May,  none;  in  June,  none ;  in  July,  none ;  in  August, 
two;  in  September,  none." 

He  had  the  fixed  habit  of  noting  in  his  journal  the 
texts  from  which  he  preached.  Simply  running  over 
the  list  of  them,  one  cannot  fail  to  see  that  he  did  not 
fall  into  ruts,  but  covered  a  great  variety  of  subjects 
from  every  part  of  the  Holy  Scriptures.  It  has  been 
alleged  of  some  of  his  successors  that  their  range  of 
topics  was  narrow.  The  writer  of  these  lines  once 
asked  the  late  Bishop  Fowler,  whose  humor  had  an 

acid  touch  in  it :  'Ts  it  true  that  Bishop has  only 

two  sermons?"  "Two?"  he  replied.  "Is  there  really 
a  second  one?"  Nobody  would  ever  have  thought  of 
making  such  an  inquiry  about  IMcKendree. 

The  South  Carolina  Conference,  which,  as  indicated 
above,  then  included  also  the  whole  State  of  Georgia, 
was  full  of  life,  and  the  travel-worn  bishops  found 


126  Life  of  William  McKendrcc. 

great  compensation  in  the  fellowship  of  the  passing 
days.  Between  sixty  and  seventy  itinerant  preachers 
were  present,  *'all  of  one  spirit."  A  great  many  local 
preachers  and  laymen  had  also  come  up  to  the  feast  of 
tabernacles,  the  first  ever  held  in  that  vicinity.  Some 
of  them  had  traveled  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  and 
brought  their  tents  with  them.  While  the  business 
sessions  were  going  on  in  the  rude  church,  there  was 
incessant  preaching,  praying,  and  singing  under  the 
arbor,  and  not  a  little  shouting  also.  The  Georgia 
Methodists  started  out  as  a  lively  folk,  and,  God  be 
thanked,  they  have  not  yet  entirely  lost  the  capacity  to 
praise  him  with  a  loud  voice. 

The  reports  showed  that  there  had  been  a  net  gain 
during  the  year  of  3,088  members.  Asbury  fairly 
glowed  as  he  wrote:  "The  prospects  for  doing  good 
are  glorious."  Among  the  sixteen  fine  young  men  ad- 
mitted on  trial  was  William  Capers,  who  was  to  leave 
a  luminous  track  through  the  next  half  century  as  one 
of  the  wise  and  mighty  leaders  of  the  Church. 

Three  "missionaries"  were  included  in  the  list  of 
appointments.  One  of  them  was  Matthew  P.  Sturde- 
vant,  who  was  sent  to  the  Tombigbee  country  in  Ala- 
bama, the  first  regular  itinerant  to  enter  that  State, 
though  Lorenzo  Dow  had  been  there  as  a  sort  of  in- 
dependent ranger  sometime  before.  The  other  two 
were  J.  H.  Mallard  and  J.  E.  Glenn,  who  w^ere  com- 
missioned to  the  negroes  on  the  Savannah  and  Santee 
Rivers.  Even  prior  to  this  time  there  had  been  a  great 
deal  of  preaching  to  the  colored  people,  not  only  in  the 
towns  and  cities,  but  also  when  occasion  oflFered  in  the 
country ;  but  now  an  organized  and  sustained  effort 


First  Quadrenmiun  in  the  Episcopacy.         127 

was  set  on  foot  to  reach  the  poorest  and  the  lowhest 
of  them  on  the  cotton  and  rice  plantations.  In  this 
monumental  enterprise,  which  finally  brought  more 
than  a  quarter  of  a  million  souls  from  the  darkness  of 
paganism  to  the  light  of  Christ,  the  South  Carolina 
Conference  had  the  high  honor  of  leading  the  way, 
and  for  the  next  fifty  years  maintained  its  primacy, 
giving  up  many  of  its  best  and  ablest  men  to  the  work 
and  spending  in  the  aggregate  nearly  or  quite  a  million 
dollars.  It  is  surely  the  very  irony  of  history  that  the 
only  body  of  Christians  that  showed  any  deep  and 
practical  regard  for  the  welfare  of  the  slaves  and  that 
gathered  more  converts  from  them  into  the  fold  than 
could  then  be  found  in  all  the  mission  stations  of  all 
the  world  should  later  have  been  held  up  to  the  scorn 
and  derision  of  Christendom  because  of  its  "con- 
nection with  slavery,"  and  this,  too,  by  men  and 
Churches  who  viewed  the  whole  situation  from  a  safe 
and  easy  distance  and  never  risked  their  personal  in- 
terests to  improve  it. 

Bishop  McTyeire  pauses  here  with  great  grace  in 
his  "History  of  Methodism"  to  throw  another  side 
light  on  the  course  of  events.  This  same  James  E. 
Glenn,  self-sacrificing  missionary  on  the  Santee,  was 
also  destined  to  touch  at  a  later  day  the  man  who  was 
perhaps,  all  things  considered,  the  greatest  preacher 
that  American  Methodism  has  yet  produced.  Young 
Stephen  Olin,  fresh  from  his  college  course  at  Mid- 
dlebury,  Vt.,  full  of  all  sorts  of  abilities,  but  without 
definite  religious  convictions  of  any  sort,  came  down 
to  South  Carolina,  hoping  in  that  softer  climate  to 
recover  his  broken  health,  but  not  dreaming  of  the 
9 


128  Life  of  JVilliam  McKcndrec. 

career  that  lay  out  before  him.  In  the  good  provi- 
dence of  God,  wliich  often  accomplishes  the  greatest 
ends  by  strange  means,  he  became  an  inmate  in  Mr. 
Glenn's  home,  and  chiefly  through  the  influence  of 
that  godly  man  was  led  to  Christ.  The  rest  of  the 
story  is  "writ  large"  in  the  history  of  the  Church  and 
does  not  need  to  be  set  down  here. 

"A  glance  at  the  men  and  their  distribution  will 
show  that  the  Conference  holding  the  extreme  south- 
ern position  in  1808  was  strong  and  laying  a  founda- 
tion for  the  future.  There  were  giant  leaders  among 
them.  Young  Lovick  Pierce,  already  marked  out  for 
eminence  as  a  preacher  and  a  legislator,  kingliest  of 
the  kingly,  only  less  great  than  his  son,  Bishop  George 
F.  Pierce,  was  presiding  elder  of  the  Oconee  District; 
Britain  Capel,  of  the  Ogechee;  Lewis  Myers,  of  the 
Saluda ;  Daniel  Asbury,  of  the  Catawba ;  and  Jonathan 
Jackson,  of  the  Camden.  James  Jenkins,  Plilliard 
Judge,  Samuel  Dunwoody,  William  Gassoway,  Wil- 
liam M.  Kennedy,  James  Russell,  and  Joseph  Tarpley 
were  among  the  other  laborers  cultivating  this  portion 
of  the  vineyard." 

Taking  the  back  track  immediately  after  the  Con- 
ference had  risen,  the  two  bishops  again  visited  Au- 
gusta, Ga.,  Camden,  S.  C,  and  Wilmington,  Newbern, 
and  Washington,  in  North  Carolina,  conducting  re- 
ligious services  at  all  these  and  many  other  intermedi- 
ate points,  and  finally  coming  to  Tarboro,  N.  C,  the 
appointed  seat  of  the  Virginia  Conference,  on  January 
31.  Eighty- four  preachers  were  present,  and  seven- 
teen recruits  were  admitted  Into  the  ranks.  To 
Asbury's  great  joy,  only  three  preachers  in  the  whole 


First  Quadrennimn  in  the  Episcopacy.         129 

Conference  were  married  men.  If  he  had  been  asked 
whether  the  New  Testament  insisted  on  a  cehbate  min- 
istry, he  would,  of  course,  have  given  a  negative  reply ; 
but  he  undoubtedly  thought  that  in  the  conditions 
then  prevailing  throughout  the  country  a  single  life 
sorted  well  with  the  duties  of  the  itinerancy,  and  it 
would  have  pleased  him  if  all  his  brethren  had  been 
confirmed  bachelors.  His  journal  contains  a  delight- 
ful morsel  ad  rem:  "The  high  taste  of  these  Southern 
folks  will  not  permit  their  families  to  be  degraded  by 
an  alliance  with  a  Methodist  preacher,  and  thus  invol- 
untary celibacy  is  imposed  upon  us.  All  the  better. 
Anxiety  about  worldly  possessions  does  not  stop  our 
course,  and  we  are  saved  from  the  pollutions  of  negro 
slavery  and  oppression."  Very  consolatory  reflections ! 
Jesse  Lee  admitted  that  he  once  thought  himself  called 
to  the  married  state,  but  that  the  woman  concerned 
could  not  see  it  that  way.  Since  that  day  the  average 
Methodist  preacher  in  the  South  has  not  usually  found 
his  way  to  matrimony  blocked.  Indeed,  his  success  in 
wife-winning  has  come  to  be  a  sort  of  standing  marvel. 

The  two  bishops  did  "teamwork"  at  this  Confer- 
ence, as  usual.  McKendree  preached  an  ordination 
sermon  on  Friday  and  ordained  eight  elders,  while 
Asbury  on  Sunday  discoursed  on  "Humiliation  before 
God"  and  laid  hands  on  thirteen  deacons.  He  esti- 
mated the  audiences  "in  the  two  churches"  at  2,000 
souls.  But  most  persons  are  likely  to  overestimate  the 
size  of  a  crowd.  Even  level-headed  John  Wesley  did 
it  in  his  day.  It  is  not  likely  that  there  were  two 
churches  in  Tarboro  holding  each  a  thousand  persons. 

The  hospitality  of  the  town  was  great.     Thus  the 


130  Life  of  William  McKcndrcc. 

good  old  Bishop  says :  "Our  friends  are  very  attentive 
to  entertain  us  in  their  homes  abundantly  better  than 
we  deserve."  As  this  writer  can  testify  from  personal 
experience,  those  Eastern  North  Carolinians  have  not 
}et  forgotten  how  to  exercise  the  grace  of  courteous 
entertainment.  It  has  descended  from  father  to  son  in 
an  unbroken  line. 

Nothing  could  be  more  significant  than  the  next 
quotation  from  the  journal.  Dr.  Stevens  in  his  bril- 
liant history  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  al- 
most wails  over  it  as  an  indication  of  a  lapse  from 
perfect  righteousness  on  Bishop  Asbury's  part;  but 
really  and  truly  it  is  nothing  more  than  a  sign  that 
the  Bishop  in  the  face  of  stubborn  facts  was  learning 
a  great  lesson  of  common  sense.    Here  it  is: 

Our  increase  in  numbers,  unless  wc  allow  for  a  great  waste 
by  death  and  loss  by  removals,  is  not  very  encouraging.  The 
West  and  South  have  given  us  more  than  three  thousand 
each,  whereas  here  it  is  not  three  hundred.  We  are  de- 
frauded of  great  numbers  by  the  pains  that  are  taken  to  keep 
the  blacks  from  us.  Their  masters  are  afraid  of  the  influence 
of  our  principles.  Would  not  an  aincUoration  in  the  condition 
and  treatment  of  the  slaves  have  produced  more  practical 
good  to  the  poor  Africans  than  any  attempt  at  their  cmunci- 
pationf  The  state  of  society  unhappily  does  not  admit  of 
this ;  besides,  the  blacks  arc  deprived  of  the  means  of  in- 
struction. Who  will  take  the  pains  to  lead  them  into  tlie  way 
of  salvation  and  watch  over  them,  that  they  may  not  stray  but 
the  Methodists?  Well,  now  their  masters  will  not  let  them 
come  to  hear  us.  What  is  the  personal  liberty  of  the  Afri- 
can, which  he  may  abuse,  to  the  salvation  of  his  soul? 

From  Tarboro  Bishop  McKendrec  journeyed  north- 
eastward through  a  deep  snow,  calling  for  a  day  at 


First  Quadrennium  in  the  Episcopacy.         131 

his  father's  house,  in  Greenville  County,  Va.,  and 
preaching  twice  while  there.  Thence  he  continued  his 
ride  through  Petersburg  and  Richmond  to  Port  Re- 
public and  on  to  Harrisonburg,  Va.,  reaching  the  last- 
mentioned  place  about  Alarch  i.  On  the  most  of  this 
long  journey  Asbury  was  with  him,  as  his  journal  con- 
clusively shows.  Conference  opened  at  Harrisonburg 
on  March  2  and  lasted  till  March  8. 

By  a  blunder  which  it  is  difficult  to  understand  in 
so  careful  and  accurate  a  man  Bishop  Paine  says  that 
this  was  a  sort  of  second  session  of  the  Virginia  Con- 
ference held  for  the  convenience  of  the  Virginia 
preachers  who  were  too  remote  to  get  to  Tarboro. 
But,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  it  was  the  Baltimore  Confer- 
ence, and  could  have  been  none  other;  for  Harrison- 
burg was  then,  and  always  has  been,  In  the  bounds  of 
the  Baltimore  Conference.  Furthermore,  if  this  were 
not  the  Baltimore  Conference,  then  no  session  of  that 
body  was  held  for  that  year,  an  impossible  supposition. 
The  General  IMInutes,  moreover,  confirm  the  view  that 
I  have  taken.  Bishop  Palne's  mistake  probably  grew 
out  of  the  fact  that  Bishop  IMcKendree  In  his  jour- 
nal by  a  curious  slip  wrote  "'Virginia"  Instead  of 
''Baltimore"  and  afterwards  failed  to  notice  and  cor- 
rect It. 

Both  Asbury  and  ]\IcKendree  were  well  acquainted 
among  the  Baltimore  brethren  and  greatly  enjoyed  the 
renewal  of  old  companionships.  To  the  former,  In 
particular,  getting  back  into  that  region  was  like  get- 
ting home.  He  was  headed  for  It  when  death  overtook 
him,  In  1816.  The  regular  business  of  the  Conference 
did  not  differ  much  from  that  of  the  Conferences  which 


132  Life  of  IVilliam  McKendrce, 

had  just  before  been  held.  Ten  yonng  men  were  re- 
ceived on  trial  and  ten  others  into  full  connection. 
Among  those  received  on  trial  was  Beverly  W'augh, 
later  to  become  an  honored  general  superintendent  of 
the  whole  Church,  one  of  those  balanced  and  capable 
men  who,  without  shining  abilities  in  any  direction, 
are  yet  useful  on  all  the  ground.  The  statistical  re- 
ports were  even  less  encouraging  than  those  at  the 
\'irginia  Conference.  They  actually  showed  a  de- 
crease of  1,726  in  the  membership  and  must  have 
given  rise  to  grave  questionings.  Then,  as  now,  the 
Church  seemed  to  go  forward,  not  along  the  whole 
line,  but  by  divisions  and  sections.  But  there  was 
abounding  life  in  the  old  Baltimore  Conference,  as  the 
coming  years  would  show. 

The  next  stage  of  their  journey  took  the  bishops 
through  another  deep  snow  to  Alexandria,  George- 
town, and  Washington  City,  preaching,  of  course,  as 
they  went.  Thence  they  pursued  their  way  to  Balti- 
more and  Wilmington,  Del.,  and  finally  to  Phila- 
delphia, where  the  Conference  convened  April  3-10. 
McKendree  seemed  to  mend  his  grip  on  the  road.  At 
this  Conference  he  preached  six  times.  Fortunately 
for  him,  Asbury  did  the  most  of  the  cabinet  work  and 
left  him  comparatively  free  to  exercise  his  great  gifts 
as  an  evangelist,  which  were  more  and  more  admired 
in  every  part  of  the  country.  Father  Francis  does  not 
seem  to  have  got  along  so  well  here  as  elsewhere. 
"There  was  some  little  difficulty,"  his  narrative  run?, 
"with  the  money  concerns,  and  some  of  the  members 
had  been  rather  warm  partisans  as  politicians.  This 
is  always  wrong,  let  them  take  which  side  they  please. 


First  Quadrenniiim  in  the  Episcopacy.         133 

.  .  .  The  Philadelphia  Conference  has  subjected 
itself  to  a  demand  for  twelve  preachers  who  have  no 
stations.  Six  are  married,  and  there  is  a  widow's 
maintenance  to  be  added,  an  expense  all  told  of  $2,000. 
1  am  not  conscious  of  indulging  or  feeling  wrong  tem- 
pers in  the  mighty  work  at  which  I  labor,  but  I  never 
wish  to  meet  the  Conference  in  the  city  of  Philadel- 
phia again."  Even  Asbury  had  his  juniper  tree  moods. 
There  was  really  no  reason  for  despondency.  The 
gain  in  membership  for  the  year  had  been  over  one 
thousand,  and  fifteen  preachers  were  received  on  trial 
and  fourteen  into  full  connection.  The  outlook  v/as 
good  all  around  the  horizon. 

The  New  York  Conference  was  next  in  order,  and 
so  the  bishops  renewed  their  itinerary  by  way  of  Bur- 
lington, Trenton,  and  other  towns,  reaching  New  York 
City  on  Alay  9  and  opening  the  first  session  three  days 
later.  McKendree  again  magnified  the' pulpit,  though 
he  occupied  it  only  four  times  in  the  course  of  the  Con- 
ference. Asbury  was  still  suffering  from  some  men- 
tal depression:  "If  I  have  slept  five  hours  a  night,  it 
is  as  much  as  I  have  done  in  the  matter  of  sleep." 
There  were  "some  critical  cases"  among  the  preachers, 
though  none  were  deemed  deserving  of  expulsion. 
One  thing  pleased  the  bishops :  "There  were  one  hun- 
dred and  fifteen  preachers  stationed  and  few  com- 
plaints." Another  cheering  fact  was  a  gain  of  over 
four  thousand  In  the  membership  and  a  considerable 
accession  to  the  ranks  of  the  ministry.  Both  the 
bishops  were  much  impressed  by  their  first  sight  of  a 
steamboat — "a  great  Invention." 

In  order  to  get  to  Monmouth,  In  IMaine,  at  which 


134  ^^/^  of  William  McKcndrce. 

place  the  New  England  Conference  was  to  assemble, 
it  was  necessary  for  the  bishops  to  ride  about  seven 
hundred  miles  on  horseback,  and  it  took  them  twenty- 
one  days  to  do  it,  not  counting  the  Sundays,  on  which, 
of  course,  they  laid  by.  It  was  the  old  story  with  them 
— always  on  the  go  and  always  ''holding  forth  the 
word  of  life"  as  they  went.  Asbury  had  often  been 
in  New  England  before;  but  McKendree  had  now 
come  thither  for  the  first  time,  and  his  eyes  were  wide 
open  to  everything  that  passed  before  him.  He  and 
Asbury  traveled  to  Boston  by  different  routes,  spread- 
ing themselves  thus  over  the  country.  It  had  been  ar- 
ranged that  from  Boston  they  should  journey  in  com- 
pany, but  It  did  not  turn  out  so.  The  journal  reads 
thus : 

Monday,  June  5. — I  set  out  from  Waltham  this  morning 
with  the  pleasant  expectation  of  meeting  Bishop  Asbury  in 
Boston,  fourteen  miles  distant,  from  which  place,  according 
to  our  general  plan,  I  was  to  have  the  pleasure  of  his  com- 
pany to  Monmouth,  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles.  We 
met,  but  what  was  my  disappointment  when,  before  I  was 
seated,  the  old  gentleman  in  a  very  pleasant  mood  presented 
me  with  a  new  plan  which  directed  us  to  different  routes ! 
Accordingly,  after  a  few  hours,  we  parted.  I  followed  direc- 
tions and  moved  on  as  I  could,  and  in  a  day  or  two  he  came 
after  me  on  the  same  road  the  greater  part  of  the  way. 

Evidently  the  senior  bishop  was  becoming  a  little 
notioned,  and  evidently  also  the  junior  did  not  quite 
relish  being  dealt  with  as  if  he  were  something  of  a 
novice.  Well,  the  saints  are  human,  even  the  best  of 
them,  and  that  is  what  brings  them  close  to  us. 

On  June  to  McKendree  again  makes  a  record: 
**I  have  passed  through  nearly  all  the  seaport  towns  in 


First  Qiiadrennmm  in  the  Episcopacy,         135 

my  course  and  preached  in  Boston,  Lynn,  and  Ports- 
mouth this  week.  There  is  a  beautiful  prospect  of  re- 
Hgion  in  Portsmouth,  the  seat  of  government  for  New 
Hampshire.  I  heard  more  doctrinal  sentiments  and 
more  breathing  after  holiness  expressed  in  a  love  feast 
here  than  in  any  other  place  I  have  visited  lately." 
Possibly  McKendree  did  not  know  that  "doctrinal 
sentiments"  are  the  New  Englander's  vital  breath  and 
native  air. 

Of  the  Conference,  McKendree  says:  "It  com- 
menced on  the  15th  and  closed  on  the  evening  of  the 
fourth  day.  This  is  an  amiable  body  of  preachers, 
having  many  difficulties  to  encounter  and  much  love 
to  support  them."  Asbury's  note  is  fuller  and  more 
specific:  *'On  June  18,  Sunday,  I  preached  to  about 
three  thousand  deeply  attentive  people  from  Isaiah 
xliv.  23.  We  have  eighty-two  men  to  do  the  work, 
forty  of  whom  compose  the  Conference,  the  rest  being 
supplies.  .  .  .  We  have  ordained  twenty-one 
deacons  and  seven  elders.  We  have  located  eleven 
elders,  readmitted  one,  and  added  seventeen  preachers 
on  trial.  There  is  a  small  increase  here  and  fair  pros- 
pects for  the  future."  Another  sentence  from  the 
Bishop  sounds  an  unusual  note :  "I  have  to  lament  my 
want  of  information  respecting  both  the  circuits  and 
the  preachers."  Tlie  connection  has  grown  so  wide 
that  he  can  no  longer  have  accurate  personal  knowl- 
edge of  it.  This  fact  ought  to  have  suggested  to  him 
the  propriety  of  some  alteration  in  his  plan  of  making 
the  appointments,  but  it  did  not  do  so.  Men  of  sixty- 
five  do  not  easily  take  to  new  ways. 

The  Conference  ended,  the  bishops  mounted  their 


136  Life  of  IVWium  McKendrce. 

horses  once  more  and  turned  their  faces  toward  the 
west,  passing  through  Northern  New  York,  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  Ohio  to  Cincinnati,  already  becoming  the 
queen  city  of  the  West,  and  now  for  the  first  time  to 
entertain  a  Methodist  Conference.  To  follow  these 
two  devoted  servants  of  God  in  this  long  and  tiresome 
route  would  be  a  pleasant  task,  but  we  should  get 
no  strictly  new  information  by  doing  so.  They  rode 
hard  over  rough  roads,  crossed  rivers,  lakes,  and 
mountains,  endured  all  sorts  of  beds  and  all  sorts  of 
food,  preached  at  every  stopping  place,  wrought 
mightily  in  several  camp  meetings,  and  got  to  Cincin- 
nati on  September  27,  in  good  time  for  the  Western 
Conference,  which  opened  on  the  30th. 

For  the  next  three  years,  moreover,  they  kept  closely 
to  the  same  general  schedule  thus  described.  Every 
year  they  made  the  circuit  of  the  whole  Church,  a  dis- 
tance of  about  six  thousand  miles,  and  met  all  the  An- 
nual Conferences  with  unvarying  punctuality. 

Asbury's  age  and  infirmities  were  beginning  to  tell 
upon  him.  ^^lore  and  more  he  left  a  large  share  of  the 
work  to  ]^IcKendree,  whom  he  had  learned  to  trust  im- 
plicitly and  who  never  refused  to  carry  any  load  that 
was  put  upon  him.  Before  the  quadrennium  was  fin- 
ished, the  junior  bishop  had  completely  mastered  all  the 
details  of  his  office — indeed,  he  knew  the  most  of  them 
to  begin  with — and  had  learned  to  meet  its  duties  with 
the  easy  skill  of  a  veteran.  Without  being  a  martinet, 
he  adhered  strictly  to  parliamentary  procedure.  The 
Conferences  soon  discovered  that  he  would  not  tolerate 
any  looseness  or  disorder  and  quietly  submitted  to  his 
strong  guidance.     Even  the  New  York  Conference, 


First  Qnadrennium  in  the  Episcopacy.  137 

which  was  given  to  interminable  discussion  and  some- 
times held  on  for  a  full  ten  days,  learned  how  to  get 
through  in  about  half  that  time.  This  does  not  mean 
that  McKendree  was  autocratic  or  discourteous  in  the 
chair.  Far  from  it.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  he  was  a 
perfect  model  of  gentlemanliness.  But  he  understood 
the  art  of  presiding,  and  he  practiced  it.  Every  matter 
received  due  consideration  at  his  hands,  and  every  man 
was  accorded  a  fair  hearing.  The  result,  as  might  have 
been  expected,  was  highly  satisfactory  except  to  the 
few  brethren  who  could  no  longer  enjoy  a  monopoly  of 
the  Conference  floor,  and  even  they  were  bound  to  see 
in  time  that  a  deliberate  assembly  without  a  fixed 
method  of  transacting  its  affairs  is  a  virtual  impossi- 
bility. 

In  spite  of  the  great  respect  which  the  two  bishops 
had  for  each  other,  they  could  not  always  agree  even 
on  important  matters.  From  the  beginning  Asbury 
had  been  in  the  habit  of  making  the  appointments,  as 
Wesley  did,  on  his  own  judgment  and  without  consult- 
ing anybody.  That  he  had  the  legal  right  to  do  this  is 
indisputable,  and  indeed  few  persons,  if  any,  were  in- 
clined to  dispute  it.  But  ^McKendree  saw  very  clearly 
that,  with  the  rapid  enlargement  of  the  connection,  it 
would  become  impossible  for  any  bishop  to  acquire 
sufficient  knowledge  of  the  men  and  the  Churches  to 
make  proper  adjustments  between  them  without  direct 
counsel  and  advice  from  the  presiding  elders.  Asbury 
sought  to  change  his  mind  on  the  subject,  but  in  vain. 
In  a  letter  of  October  8,  181 1,  McKendree  courteously 
but  firmly  declined  to  yield.  And  so  the  cabinet  be- 
came one  of  the  fixed  features  of  Episcopal  Methodism. 


138  Life  of  William  McKendrce. 

No  General  Conference  created  it,  nor  has  it  ever  had 
any  statutory  recognition  in  the  Church.  ^IcKendree 
thought  that  he  needed  it  and  introduced  it.  Its  per- 
manency has  grown  out  of  its  usefulness.  By  common 
consent  it  remains  to  this  day. 


CHAPTER  XI. 
At  His  First  General  Conference  as  a  Bishop. 

The  General  Conference  which  met  in  Old  John 
Street  Church,  New  York  City,  May  i,  1812,  marked 
the  beginning  of  a  new  era  in  the  history  of  Meth- 
odism. As  set  out  in  a  former  chapter,  all  previous 
General  Conferences  had  been  simply  mass  conven- 
tions of  the  traveling  ministers  and  had  acted,  more- 
over, without  restrictions  of  any  sort  upon  their  au- 
thority. But  this  one  was  made  up  of  ninety  chosen 
delegates  from  the  eight  Annual  Conferences  into 
which  the  Church  was  then  divided  and  was  limited  in 
its  powers  by  the  six  restrictive  rules,  which  were  de- 
signed to  have  the  force  of  a  written  constitution.  But 
it  remained  to  be  seen  how  far  the  delegates  would 
be  true  to  the  letter  and  spirit  of  these  rules  or  would 
proceed  to  legislate  as  if  they  did  not  exist. 

Very  naturally  the  Church  was  deeply  concerned 
as  to  the  result.  But  the  character  of  the  delegates 
was  reassuring.  "Among  the  ninety,"  says  Bishop 
McTyeIre,  "we  gladly  recognize  such  veterans  as  Gar- 
rettson,  Cooper,  Lee,  Ware,  Bruce,  Reed,  and  Snethen, 
and  a  fair  proportion  of  that  second  generation  of 
men  whose  names  are  Methodist  history — Soule,  Hed- 
ding.  Bangs,  Pickering,  Sale,  Blackman,  Sargent,  and 
Roszell — ^but  special  interest  gathers  about  a  group  of 
picked  young  men  who  came  for  the  first  time  to  the 
front:  Lovick  Pierce,  John  Early,  Thomas  L.  Doug- 
lass,   James    E.    Glenn,    Samuel    Dunwoody,    Enoch 

(139) 


140  Life  of  IVilliam  McKcndrce, 

George,  and  Robert  R.  Roberts.  These  men,  it  was 
believed,  would  not  deal  lightly  with  constitutional  re- 
straints. 

There  was  much  comfort  also  in  the  fact  that  two 
such  trained  and  capable  leaders  as  Asbury  and  Mc- 
Kendree  were  to  preside  over  the  dehberations  of  the 
Conference.  Though  wholly  alike  in  their  devotion  to 
Christ  and  his  Church,  they  differed  much  in  mental 
structure  and  characteristics.  It  need  scarcely  be 
said  that  in  sheer  power  of  intellect  IMcKendree  was 
decidedly  the  stronger  man.  He  had  a  habit  of  look- 
ing at  things  in  their  principles  and  of  forecasting  the 
probable  results  of  measures  and  policies.  From  the 
beginning  Asbury  had  been  more  or  less  addicted  to 
personal  government.  Under  the  circumstances  it  was 
almost  necessarily  so.  When  he  reached  America  there 
was  no  Methodist  Church,  but  only  a  few  weak  and 
scattered  societies.  Out  of  these  societies  he  had  seen 
the  Church  grow.  He  had  been  always  in  the  lead  and 
had  been  compelled  to  shape  his  plans  without  the  il- 
lumination of  precedent  or  the  guidance  of  definite 
statutes.  He  held  much  the  same  relation  to  his  fel- 
low Methodists  in  this  country  which  Mr.  Wesley  had 
to  those  in  England.  Simply  because  of  this  fact 
everybody  had  become  used  to  accepting  his  decisions 
as  final.  The  natural  reaction  helped  to  confirm  in  him 
a  sense  of  authority,  though,  owing  to  the  intrinsic 
qualities  of  his  character,  it  never  made  him  rude  nor 
arrogant.    His  paternalism  was  genial  and  kindly. 

^fcKcndree  was  wise  enough  to  know  that  the 
Cliurch  would  never  consent  to  invest  another  man 
with  Asbury's  preeminence.     Nor  did  he  covet  it  for 


At  His  First  General  Conference  as  a  Bishop.   141 

himself.  Of  deliberate  choice,  he  sought  to  make  his 
administration  one  of  law.  In  all  his  official  conduct 
he  kept  in  view  the  requirements  of  the  constitution 
and  of  the  statutes  framed  under  it.  The  loose  way 
in  which  the  Annual  Conferences  had  been  allowed  to 
carry  on  business  did  not  please  him.  It  involved  the 
unnecessary  consumption  of  time  and  bred  confusion 
and  ill  will.  As  far  as  he  could  effect  it,  he  meant 
that  everything  should  now  be  done  decently  and  in 
order. 

Up  till  and  including  1808  the  bishops  had  been  in 
every  sense  of  the  word  members  of  the  General  Con- 
ference with  identically  the  same  right  to  introduce 
motions  or  resolutions,  to  debate  questions,  and  to  vote 
as  other  members.  But  by  the  operation  of  the  con- 
stitution their  powers  in  the  respects  mentioned  were 
entirely  taken  away,  though  additional  guaranties  were 
attached  to  their  general  status  as  officers  of  the 
Church  with  defined  functions.  They  became  simply 
the  constitutional  presidents  or  moderators  of  the  Gen- 
eral Conference,  without  authority  to  intervene  di- 
rectly in  the  proceedings  of  the  body.  That  position 
they  have  held  ever  since,  though  masterful  men  among 
them,  such  as  Joshua  Soule,  Robert  Paine,  George  F. 
Pierce,  and  Holland  N.  McTyeire,  have  not  hesitated 
on  grave  occasions,  law  or  no  law,  to  take  the  risk  of 
speaking  out  their  minds  from  the  floor  or  the  plat- 
form. Usually  they  have  been  heard  with  close  and 
courteous  attention  because  of  the  great  and  general 
respect  entertained  for  their  ability  and  force.  But 
men  of  smaller  caliber  would  surely  be  subjected  to 


142  Life  of  William  McKcndrce. 

severe  criticisiii  if  they  should  undertake  to  pursue  a 
similar  course. 

In  view  of  the  changed  relation  of  the  bishops  to 
the  General  Conference  and  of  other  weighty  con- 
siderations, it  seemed  to  AIcKendree  that  some  lawful 
and  recognized  method  should  be  adopted  by  which 
the  bishops  should  be  able  in  a  dignified  and  orderly 
manner  to  communicate  to  the  Conference  any  impor- 
tant information  in  their  possession  or  to  make  any 
suggestions  that  they  might  deem  of  value.  Other- 
wise it  was  clear  either  that  they  would  be  tempted 
to  take  an  open  part  in  the  discussions  or  else  would 
become  mere  ornamental  dummies  without  any  par- 
ticipation whatever  in  matters  touching  the  very  life 
and  growth  of  the  Church.  Hence  he  determined  to 
read  a  written  address  at  the  beginning  of  the  session, 
both  giving  a  full  account  of  his  own  stewardship  for 
the  preceding  quadrennium  and  also  furnishing  a  brief 
exhibit  of  what  he  conceived  to  be  the  general  state 
and  needs  of  the  Church.  But  before  taking  the  pro- 
posed step  he  was  judicious  enough  to  consult  a  num- 
ber of  the  older  and  wiser  delegates,  including  some 
who  were  and  some  who  were  not  his  special  friends. 
If  there  were  to  be  any  dangerous  rocks  or  shoals 
ahead,  he  did  not  propose  to  run  on  them. 

Just  why  he  did  not  also  consult  Asbury  it  is  not 
possible  to  say  with  certainty.  But  it  is  likely  that  he 
knew  or  suspected  that  Asbury  would  be  opposed  to 
the  innovation  and  concluded  that  it  would  be  better 
to  follow  his  own  judgment,  reen forced  as  it  had  been 
by  that  of  chosen  brethren,  and  then  make  any  neces- 
sary explanations  or  apologies  afterwards.     That  he 


At  His  First  General  Conference  as  a  Bishop.  143 

could  have  deliberately  meditated  an  act  of  discourtesy 
toward  his  senior  colleague  is  not  possible.  All  the 
records  show  that  he  was  uniformly  and  profoundly 
deferential  to  Asbury,  never  once  forgetting  what  was 
due  to  his  age  and  position. 

Compared  with  the  voluminous  documents  which 
the  bishops  now  put  forth,  McKendree's  address  was 
very  short,  and  none  the  worse  for  that  fact.  It 
avoided  all  irrelevant  issues  and  went  straight  to  the 
heart  of  things.  Such  an  example  is  worthy  of  imita- 
tion. Woodrow  Wilson  has  lately  taught  us  afresh  the 
value  of  concise  directness  in  documents  designed  to 
reach  and  move  the  minds  of  men.  There  is  no  earthly 
reason  why  a  General  Conference  should  be  taxed  to 
listen  for  several  hours  to  a  mere  array  of  facts  and 
figures  with  the  most  of  which  it  is  already  familiar. 

When  McKendree  had  finished  reading  and  taken 
his  seat,  a  dramatic  incident  occurred.  Asbury,  who 
had  been  taken  by  surprise,  but  was  too  much  of  a 
gentleman  to  offer  an  interruption,  now  arose  and 
said  to  him:  "I  have  something  to  say  to  you  before 
the  Conference."  McKendree  at  once  got  to  his  feet, 
and  the  two  stood  face  to  face.  Then  Asbury  pro- 
ceeded :  "This  is  a  new  thing ;  I  never  did  business  in 
this  way;  and  why  is  this  new  thing  introduced?" 
There  was  something  more  than  a  trace  of  irritation 
in  the  old  man's  voice.  It  looked  as  if  there  might  be 
some  trouble  between  the  superintendents.  But  Mc- 
Kendree was  equal  to  the  emergency.  With  consum- 
mate courtesy  he  replied :  "You  are  our  father ;  we 
are  your  sons.  You  never  had  any  need  of  it.  I  am 
only  a  brother  and  have  need  of  it."  Nothing  could 
10 


144  -^'7^  of  ^^"'V//c7;;r  McKcndrce. 

have  been  finer.  Only  an  instinctive  gentleman  could 
have  handled  the  situation  with  so  much  skill.  As- 
bury's  feelings  were  at  once  soothed.  He  saw  that  no 
unkindness  had  been  intended  and  sat  down  promptly 
with  a  smile  on  his  face.  We  have  had  episcopal  ad- 
dresses ever  since  and  probably  shall  continue  to  have 
them  as  long  as  the  episcopacy  itself  lasts. 

After  the  disposition  of  ^IcKendree's  address  by 
the  reference  of  different  parts  of  it  to  the  proper  com- 
mittees, Asbury  made  a  brief  and  characteristic  speech, 
and  then  the  Conference  settled  down  to  business. 
First  and  last,  it  did  a  good  many  things.  During  the 
preceding  quadrennium  the  bishops  without  express 
authorization  had  organized  the  Genesee  Conference. 
The  action  was  doubtless  wise,  but  not  warranted,  and 
provoked  a  good  deal  of  criticism.  Asbury  had  taken 
the  precaution  to  secure  the  approval  of  the  Annual 
Conferences  for  what  he  had  done,  and  the  General 
Conference  now'  lent  its  sanction.  But  the  bishops 
have  never  since  taken  the  responsibility  upon  them- 
selves of  creating  an  Annual  Conference.  That  is  a 
matter  wholly  in  the  hands  of  the  General  Confer- 
ence. The  old  Western  Conference,  which  had  em- 
braced the  entire  ^Mississippi  Valley,  was  now  divided 
into  the  Ohio  and  Tennessee  Conferences.  Asbury 
thought  that  the  time  would  come  when  five  would 
be  necessary  in  the  same  territory  and  had  their 
boundaries  definitely  marked  out  in  mind.  If  he  had 
lived  long  enough,  he  might  have  seen  more  than  fifty. 

After  protracted  debate  it  was  resolved  to  bestow 
elder's  orders  upon  properly  qualified  local  preachers. 
Jesse  Lee  and  other  men  of  insight  opposed  this  ac- 


At  His  First  General  Conference  as  a  Bishop.   145 

tion,  chiefly  upon  the  ground  that  it  is  not  possible  for 
any  man  to  take  the  vows  of  the  eldership  on  himself 
with  a  good  conscience  unless  he  intends  to  give  him- 
self wholly  to  the  ministry.  But  as  a  majority  of  the 
itinerant  elders,  after  a  few  years  of  traveling,  located 
and  took  their  orders  with  them,  the  force  and  per- 
tinency of  the  argument  seemed  to  be  broken,  espe- 
cially as  in  those  days  the  services  of  worthy  local 
preachers  were  frequently  much  needed  in  the  admin- 
istration of  the  sacraments.  Nevertheless,  this  legis- 
lation by  turning  a  class  of  lay  preachers  into  a  sort 
of  halfway  cltrgymtn  did  no  little  harm.  The  British 
Methodists  in  adhering  to  the  original  conception  of 
Wesley  have  shown  greater  wisdom. 

James  Axley,  who  never  missed  a  chance  to  hit 
whisky  or  slavery,  again  moved  "that  no  stationed  or 
local  preacher  shall  retail  spirituous  or  malt  liquor 
without  forfeiting  his  ministerial  character  among  us." 
That  the  Conference  should  have  dillydallied  with  this 
motion  for  some  time  and  should  finally  have  voted  it 
down  is  a  piece  of  history  in  which  no  Methodist  can 
glory.  In  fact,  if  it  were  not  narrated  in  full  in  the 
Journal,  one  would  be  tempted  to  say  that  it  never 
happened.  Axley  was  thoroughly  disgusted  with  the 
whole  performance,  but  not  discouraged.  He  was  in 
the  war  to  the  finish,  and  no  defeat  in  a  preliminary 
skirmish  could  cause  him  to  lose  heart  or  to  cease  his 
efforts  against  the  liquor  traffic. 

As  a  kind  of  offset  to  its  action  the  Conference  in 
its  pastoral  address  made  the  following  deliverance: 
"It  is  with  regret  that  we  have  seen  the  use  of  ardent 
spirits,   dram-drinking,   etc.,   so   common   among  the 


146  Life  of  Williain  McKcndrcc. 

Methodists.  We  have  endeavored  to  suppress  the  prac- 
tice by  our  example,  but  it  is  necessary  that  we  add 
precept  to  example ;  and  we  really  think  it  not  con- 
sistent with  the  character  of  a  Christian  to  be  im- 
mersed in  the  practice  of  distilling  or  retailing  an  ar- 
ticle so  destructive  to  the  morals  of  society,  and  we 
do  earnestly  recommend  the  Annual  Conferences  and 
our  people  to  join  with  us  in  making  a  firm  and  con- 
stant stand  against  an  evil  which  has  ruined  thousands 
both  in  time  and  in  eternity."  That  sounds  well,  but 
was  altogether  too  mild  a  measure  to  meet  the  exi- 
gency. 

In  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  General  Conference  of 
1808,  before  adopting  the  constitution,  had  expressly 
declined  to  take  away  from  the  bishops  the  authority 
to  appoint  the  presiding  elders  and  had  therefore  in- 
cluded this  power  in  that  ''plan  of  our  itinerant  gen- 
eral superintcndency"  which  is  covered  and  protected 
by  the  third  restrictive  rule,  an  attempt  was  now  made 
to  pass  a  statute  providing  for  the  election  of  the 
presiding  elders  by  the  several  Annual  Conferences. 
Laban  Clark  introduced  a  motion  to  that  effect. 
Nicholas  Snethen  offered  an  amendment  "that  the 
bishops  shall  have  power  to  nominate  presiding  elders, 
and  if  the  first  nomination  is  not  ratified  by  a  ma- 
jority of  the  Annual  Conference  the  bishop  shall  pro- 
ceed to  nominate  till  a  choice  is  made ;  and  in  all  cases 
each  nomination  shall  be  determined  separately  by  bal- 
lot without  debate."  The  debate  lasted  for  two  days 
and  was  very  able.  Lee,  Garrettson,  Cooper,  Snethen, 
and  Phoebus  were  among  the  chief  advocates  of  the 
change.    The  delegates  from  New  York,  Philadelphia, 


At  His  First  General  Conference  as  a  Bishop.   147 

and  Genesee  had  been  instructed  by  their  Confer- 
ences to  vote  for  it,  and  they  did  so  in  a  body.  The 
Southern  and  Western  delegates  were  mostly  opposed 
to  it.  When  the  vote  was  taken,  the  majority  against 
it  was  only  four,  uncomfortably  narrow.  What  would 
have  happened  if  the  measure  had  prevailed?  Would 
McKendree  at  that  time  have  had  the  courage  and  the 
influence  to  arrest  it  as  he  did  in  1820? 

After  the  discussion  and  the  balloting  were  over, 
Asbury,  being  anxious  to  allay  any  unpleasant  feelings 
that  had  been  aroused,  had  seventeen  of  the  preachers 
of  both  parties  to  dine  with  him.  He  probably  had 
the  English  conviction  that  some  things  can  be  effected 
at  a  dinner  table  better  than  elsewhere,  and,  indeed, 
it  is  true  that  eating  and  drinking  together  has  a 
natural  tendency  to  soften  men's  antipathies  toward 
one  another.  He  pleasantly  says :  "There  was  vinegar, 
mustard,  and  a  still  greater  portion  of  oil ;  but  the  dis- 
appointed parties  sat  down  in  peace,  and  we  enjoyed 
our  sober  meal."  It  was  the  last  occasion  of  the  sort 
that  he  should  ever  enjoy.  Before  another  General 
Conference  he  was  in  Paradise. 

As  Bishop  Asbury 's  health  was  uncertain,  and  as 
he  had  been  urgently  invited  to  visit  England  at  an 
early  date,  the  Committee  on  Episcopacy  asked  whether 
it  was  his  intention  to  accept  the  invitation,  and  also 
inquired  whether  the  bishops  would  need  another  col- 
league to  enable  them  to  meet  all  the  demands  made 
upon  the  episcopacy.  Bishop  Asbury  replied  in  a  writ- 
ten communication,  saying  that  he  had  given  up  all 
thought  of  "visiting  out  of  the  American  Continent" 
and  adding  that,  whatever  may  have  been  his  former 


148  Life  of  William  McKendree, 

opinion  on  the  subject,  he  was  not  in  a  position  to 
say:  "Do  this  or  that."  Bishop  McKendree,  probably 
out  of  regard  for  Bishop  Asbury,  said  nothing  at  all. 
The  Committee  on  Episcopacy,  therefore,  brought  in 
a  recommendation  that  no  additional  bishops  be  elected, 
and  this  recommendation  was  accepted  by  the  Confer- 
ence. Yet  it  must  have  been  evident  to  everybody  w'ith 
open  eyes  that  Bishop  Asbury  was  no  longer  fit  for 
active  service.  In  common  justice  to  him  he  ought  to 
have  been  retired ;  and  in  common  justice  to  Bishop 
McKendree  a  strong  man,  not  beyond  middle  life, 
ought  to  have  been  added  to  the  episcopacy.  To  leave 
one  man,  and  he  almost  threescore  years  old,  to  carry 
so  vast  a  load  as  now  rested  on  his  shoulders  was 
neither  kind  nor  wise.  There  is  nothing  so  valuable 
as  capable  human  service  and  nothing  more  to  be  de- 
plored than  the  thoughtless  and  reckless  way  in  which 
it  is  often  squandered.  As  will  be  apparent  before  we 
are  through,  McKendree  was  practically  worn  out 
at  the  end  of  ten  years  in  his  office,  though  he  kept 
going  heroically,  but  with  all  the  odds  against  him, 
more  than  twice  that  long.  It  is  easy  to  admire  his 
courage,  but  not  possible  to  commend  the  judgment 
which  led  him  to  squander  the  immense  force  that 
ought  to  have  been  conserved  for  future  years. 


CHAPTER  XII. 
In  Full  Swing. 

The  period  between  1812  and  1816  was  a  difficult 
one  for  religious  work  in  the  United  States.  For  the 
first  three  years  of  it  the  war  with  Great  Britain  was 
in  progress,  and  that  preoccupied  the  public  mind. 
All  the  Churches  suffered,  the  Methodist  along  with 
the  rest.  It  is  a  sad  story  that  the  statistics  tell.  The 
total  membership  for  1813  was  214,311  and  for  1815 
only  211,365.  Yet  it  must  not  be  inferred  that  the 
ministers  were  either  indolent  or  incapable.  They 
went  their  customary  rounds,  kept  the  churches  open, 
and  furnished  the  people  with  the  word  of  life.  Tak- 
ing everything  into  the  account,  it  is  somewhat  more 
than  likely  that  they  did  the  best  they  could. 

The  bishops  certainly  displayed  great  diligence.  As 
stated  in  the  close  of  the  last  chapter,  Asbury's  health 
was  steadily  and  rapidly  failing,  but  he  dragged  him- 
self forward  with  a  resoluteness  of  will  that  was 
worthy  of  all  admiration.  During  the  first  year  of  the 
quadrennium  he  managed  to  be  present  at  every  Con- 
ference, and  even  in  the  following  years  he  was  rarely 
absent.  But  his  inability  to  preach  and  to  preside  as 
formerly,  which  became  constantly  more  pronounced, 
threw  increasing  burdens  on  the  shoulders  of  Mc- 
Kendree,  who  himself  now  and  then  began  to  show 
signs  of  the  wear  and  tear  to  which  he  was  subjected; 
but  he  kept  going  as  if  he  were  made  of  steel  springs. 
McKendree  was  a  careful  traveler,  but  in  1814  he  met 

(149) 


150  Life  of  William  McKcndree. 

with  an  accident  while  on  his  way  from  New  York  to 
Ohio  that  disabled  him  for  several  weeks  and  impaired 
his  vigor  for  many  months.  On  July  29,  as  he  was 
riding  along  the  road,  his  horse  "started  suddenly  and 
threw  him  with  great  violence  among  the  rocks,  so  that 
his  right  hip  and  side  suffered  considerable  injury. 
That  no  bones  were  broken  was  wonderful."  His 
journal  adds:  "I  was  taken  in  a  wagon  on  the  30th 
and  carried  to  my  good  friend,  Thomas  Weston's.  But 
the  roads  were  rough,  and  I  suffered  much."  Five  sep- 
arate attempts  were  made  to  draw  blood  from  him, 
but  all  without  success.  The  lancet  was  old  and  dull 
and  the  operator  without  skill.  For  several  days  he 
was  confined  to  his  bed.  Wlien  he  got  up,  he  could  not 
move  without  crutches.  A  brave  effort  to  renew  his 
journey  showed  him  that  he  was  utterly  unfit  for  the 
road.  So  he  returned  to  Weston's  and  lay  by  till  his 
strength  was  somewhat  recovered.  Broken  and  weak 
as  he  was,  he  nevertheless  preached  to  the  friends  who 
came  in  great  numbers  to  see  him  and  also  held  class 
meeting.  As  soon  as  possible  he  was  again  on  the 
wing. 

In  spite  of  the  pain  and  disability  which  followed  the 
accident,  he  actually  met  all  his  Conferences,  except 
the  Ohio,  and  everywhere  was  hailed  with  delight.  His 
preaching  continued  to  be  a  constant  source  of  won- 
der and  edification.  He  grew  in  intellectual  energy 
and  in  emotional  warmth.  Before  large  congregations 
and  small  ones  alike  and  in  city  churches  and  country 
chapels  he  uniformly  proclaimed  the  gospel  as  an 
anointed  prophet  of  God. 

Bishop  Asbury's  journal  for  1813,  in  speaking  of  the 


In  Full  Swing.  15 1 

New  York  Conference,  says:  ''Bishop  McKendree 
preached.  It  appeared  to  me  as  if  a  ray  of  divine 
glory  rested  on  him.  His  subject  was,  'Great  peace 
have  they  that  love  thy  law,  and  nothing  shall  offend 
them.'  The  appearance,  manner,  and  preaching  of 
Brother  McKendree  produced  a  powerful  effect  upon 
Joshua  Marsden,  a  British  missionary,  who  had  been 
at  our  Conference."  The  penalty  which  McKendree 
paid  for  his  eloquence  was,  of  course,  to  be  put  for- 
ward on  all  occasions  without  much  consideration  for 
his  physical  condition. 

It  also  came  to  be  understood  that  his  judgment  on 
all  points  of  ecclesiastical  law  was  unusually  clear  and 
sound,  and  so  every  brother  that  had  a  bothersome 
question  brought  it  before  him  for  adjudication.  The 
only  thing  that  surpassed  the  simplicity  of  his  opinions 
was  the  brevity  of  them.  At  the  Virginia  Conference 
he  was  asked  whether  a  presiding  elder  can  lawfully 
preside  over  a  committee  sitting  on  the  trial  of  a  local 
preacher,  and  he  replied:  "He  can  and  sometimes  he 
ought,  but  as  a  usual  thing  it  is  better  that  he  should 
not."  On  the  same  occasion,  objection  having  been 
offered  to  the  ordination  of  certain  local  preachers  be- 
cause the  Quarterly  Conferences  recommending  them 
were  composed  of  only  a  few  members,  it  was  moved 
"that  the  Conference  determine  what  proportion  of  the 
official  members  of  a  circuit  shall  constitute  a  Quar- 
terly Conference,"  and  he  decided  the  motion  to  be 
out  of  order  "because  It  would  operate  against  the  rule 
of  the  General  Conference." 

Much  has  been  said  In  many  books  of  the  faithful- 
ness with  which  he  performed  all  his  public  duties.    It 


152  Life  of  William  McKendree, 

ought  also  to  be  said  with  great  emphasis  that  he  was 
equally  careful  in  regard  to  all  his  more  private  obliga- 
tions. Whenever  he  entered  any  home  he  took  pains 
to  have  family  prayers  and  as  far  as  possible  to  exhort 
each  member  of  the  household.  The  late  Andrew 
Monroe,  who  rode  with  him  in  the  winter  of  1819  from 
Nashville  to  Washington  City,  tells  that  he  failed  of 
keeping  up  this  custom  at  only  one  place  on  the  route, 
and  that  was  a  public  tavern  where  the  opportunity 
was  denied  him.  Throughout  the  Church  he  w'as  a 
welcome  guest.  Very  pathetic  is  the  fact  that  little 
children  loved  to  climb  on  the  knees  of  this  homeless 
and  childless  old  preacher  and  to  put  their  arms  in 
confidence  about  his  neck. 

From  year  to  year  the  Conferences  warmed  to  him 
with  an  increasing  veneration  and  affection ;  and  this 
was  true  not  in  one  part  of  the  country  merely,  but 
in  every  part.  He  was  loved  as  much  in  far-off  and 
chilly  New  England  as  in  his  native  A'irginia  or  his 
adopted  Tennessee.  In  the  winter  of  1812  the  South 
Carolina  Conference  kindly  requested  him  to  take  one 
of  their  number  with  him  as  a  traveling  companion  at 
their  expense,  and  recommended  for  the  place  James 
Norton,  who  gladly  accepted  it,  and  shared  the  Bishop's 
journeys  for  a  whole  year.  This  was  not  the  first  in- 
stance of  the  sort  nor  the  last  one.  Whatever  Chris- 
tian thoughtfulness  could  do  to  lighten  the  burdens  or 
cheer  the  path  of  this  devoted  servant  of  the  Church 
was  done  promptly  and  gladly. 

Bishop  McKendree  was  deeply  moved  by  the  death 
of  Bishop  Coke,  wdiich  took  place  on  the  Indian  Ocean 
May  2,  1 814,  but  news  of  which  did  not  reach  America 


In  Full  Swing.  153 

till  some  months  later.  Though  Coke  had  been  away 
from  the  country  for  nine  years,  he  was  still  much  es- 
teemed and  honored  on  this  side  the  water,  as  indeed 
he  thoroughly  deserved  to  be.  His  services  to  world- 
wide Methodism  were  too  large  to  be  easily  or  speedily 
forgotten.  To  the  Methodists  of  the  United  States 
he  was  an  apostle.  In  spite  of  certain  superficial  faults, 
chief  of  which  was  the  disposition  to  reach  hasty  con- 
clusions and  to  act  without  consulting  his  brethren,  he 
was  a  very  great  man.  His  versatility  was  marvelous. 
Scholar,  author,  presbyter  of  the  Church  of  England, 
effective  circuit  rider,  bishop  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church  in  America,  Secretary  and  President  of 
the  British  Wesleyan  Conference,  and  most  active, 
hopeful,  and  daring  of  missionary  leaders,  he  magni- 
fied the  grace  of  God  in  every  sphere.  In  the  con- 
stellation of  Methodist  worthies  his  name  will  shine 
with  undimmed  splendor  forever. 

As  the  years  went  on  many  of  Bishop  McKendree's 
intimate  friends  and  companions  began  to  drop  by  the 
way,  and  a  shadow  of  increasing  loneliness  often  fell 
across  his  heart.  His  last  interviews  with  Asbury  were 
full  of  solemn  and  tender  pathos.  At  Cincinnati  in  the 
fall  of  181 5  they  had  long  and  earnest  conversations 
concerning  the  future  welfare  of  the  Church.  A  few 
weeks  later,  and  for  the  last  time,  they  met  at  the  Ten- 
nessee Conference,  near  Nashville.  Asbury  had  made 
his  will,  leaving  all  his  little  savings  to  the  Church, 
and  was  ready  to  depart  and  be  with  the  Lord.  An 
entry  in  his  journal  shows  that  he  knew  he  would 
soon  cross  over  Jordan : 


154  -^^/^  of  William  McKcndrec, 

Sabbath. — I  ordained  the  deacons  and  preached  a  sermon 
in  which  Dr.  Coke  was  remembered.  My  eyes  fail.  I  resign 
the  stations  to  Bishop  McKendree.    I  will  take  away  my  feet. 

Nevertheless,  he  started  for  the  South  Carolina  Con- 
ference, ^vhich  was  to  meet  in  Charleston,  and  got 
within  thirty  miles  of  that  city  before  his  strength  gave 
out.  The  Conference  kept  in  daily  touch  with  him  and 
interceded  at  the  throne  for  him.  After  some  days  he 
grew  better  and  set  his  face  toward  the  north  along 
the  same  track  that  he  had  traveled  more  than  sixty 
times  before,  hoping  to  reach  the  General  Conference, 
which  was  to  meet  in  Baltimore  the  following  ]\Iay. 
On  the  route  he  wrote  a  final  letter  to  Bishop  AIcKen- 
dree,  full  of  interest  concerning  the  missions  to  the 
Germans  in  Pennsylvania  and  of  other  enterprises  of 
the  Church.  To  the  very  last  he  had  a  burning  zeal 
for  the  welfare  of  souls.  The  nobility  of  his  character 
shines  through  every  line  of  this  epistle  to  his  col- 
league. 

Tenderly  nursed  by  his  traveling  companion,  the  in- 
defatigable John  Wesley  Bond,  and  moving  along  in 
easy  stages,  he  reached  Richmond,  \'a.,  and  preached 
his  last  sermon  there  on  Sunday,  March  24,  1816.  He 
was  so  weak  that  friends  had  to  lift  him  in  and  out  of 
the  church.  Being  unable  to  stand,  he  was  seated  upon 
a  table  especially  prepared  for  that  purpose.  His  text 
was  Romans  ix.  28:  *'For  he  will  finish  the  work,  and 
cut  it  short  in  righteousness :  because  a  short  work  will 
the  Lord  make  upon  the  earth."  "The  audience  was 
much  affected  and  crowded  around  him  at  the  close 
of  tlie  service  to  receive  his  parting  blessing."  Seeing 
his  almost  exhausted  state,  many  friends  would  have 


In  Full  Swing.  155 

gladly  detained  him  in  that  city  at  least  till  the  weather 
should  grow  warmer  and  the  roads  better.  But  his 
heart  was  set  on  Baltimore,  and  he  pushed  right  along, 
arriving  on  Friday,  the  28th,  at  the  home  of  his  old 
friend,  George  Arnold,  about  twenty  miles  south  of 
Fredericksburg,  and  near  many  of  the  bloody  battle 
fields  of  our  Civil  War,  Spottsylvania  County,  Va. 

The  next  morning  he  was  quite  unable  to  go  farther, 
and  it  speedily  became  evident  to  himself  and  to  all  his 
attendants  that  he  had  finished  his  race.  Saturday 
and  Sunday  he  lay  dying  but  conscious.  At  his  re- 
quest Bond  read  and  expounded  the  twenty-first  chap- 
ter of  Revelation.  On  Monday  morning,  "full  of  con- 
fidence, full  of  love,"  the  venerable  father  in  Israel 
breathed  his  last.  His  body  was  laid  away  in  the 
family  burying  ground  of  Mr.  Arnold.  Within  a  few 
weeks,  however,  at  the  urgent  request  of  the  General 
Conference,  then  In  session,  it  was  disinterred  and 
taken  to  Baltimore,  where  on  the  loth  of  May,  after 
a  funeral  oration  by  Bishop  McKendree  and  in  the 
presence  of  the  General  Conference  and  a  vast  con- 
course of  citizens.  It  was  deposited  under  the  pulpit  of 
the  Eutaw  Street  Church.  There  it  remained  till  Its 
final  removal  In  June,  1834,  to  ]\Iount  Olivet  Ceme- 
tery, In  which  campo  santo,  surrounded  by  the  dust  of 
many  other  of  Methodism's  glorious  dead,  it  sleeps  in 
peace  till  Jesus  comes. 

What  a  career!  The  son  of  an  English  peasant, 
without  wealth  or  social  advantages  or  extraordinary 
Intellectual  endowments  or  the  training  of  the  schools, 
he  achieved  by  sheer  moral  force  results  of  the  most 
amazing  magnitude.    His  ministry  began  in  his  seven- 


156  Life  of  IVilliam  McKendrce, 

tecnth  and  ended  in  his  seventy-first  year.  For  forty- 
five  years  he  served  the  Methodists  of  America,  thirty- 
two  years  of  that  time  in  the  episcopacy.  It  is  not 
known  or  beheved  that  he  ever  once  shirked  a  hardship 
or  evaded  a  responsibiHty.  All  there  was  of  him  be- 
longed to  Jesus  Christ.  In  the  midst  of  titanic  labors 
that  carried  him  more  than  sixty  times  from  one  end 
of  the  republic  to  the  other  he  never  forgot  to  maintain 
the  closest  personal  relations  with  his  Lord.  He  lived 
and  died  a  holy  and  humble  Christian.  His  name  is 
one  of  the  great  inheritances  of  ^lethodism. 

When  the  General  Conference  of  18 16  met  in  Balti- 
more ]\Iay  I,  one  hundred  and  six  out  of  the  one  hun- 
dred and  fifteen  delegates  chosen  by  the  nine  Annual 
Conferences  appeared  and  took  their  seats.  The  recent 
death  of  Bishop  Asbury  cast  a  shadow^  over  the  body. 
Bishop  iMcKendree  was  now  quite  alone  in  his  office 
and  was  suffering  both  from  severe  pain  and  from 
general  debility.  His  address  to  the  Conference  was 
even  shorter  than  usual,  but  not  lacking  In  point. 
Among  other  things  he  said:  "Such  is  the  manifest 
weakness  of  the  superintendency  at  present  that  it 
cannot  fully  discharge  all  the  duties  connected  with 
this  department."  Such  a  suggestion  was  scarcely 
needed  to  make  the  situation  apparent.  If  the  Church 
was  to  be  kept  going  as  an  Episcopal  Church,  it  must 
have  more  bishops.  Nobody  was  surprised  when  the 
Committee  on  Episcopacy  recommended  the  election 
of  two  new  men,  and  on  the  14th  Inst.  Enoch  George, 
of  the  Baltimore  Conference,  and  Robert  R.  Roberts, 
of  the  Philadelphia  Conference,  were  chosen.  The 
former  received  fifty-seven  and  the  latter  fifty-five  out 


In  Full  Swing.  157 

of  one  hundred  and  six  votes.  Both  were  worthy  men, 
though  neither  could  be  matched  with  McKendree. 
Roberts  was  born  in  Maryland  in  1778,  but  was  chiefly 
brought  up  in  Western  Pennsylvania.  Converted  at 
fourteen  and  licensed  to  exhort  at  twenty,  he  entered 
the  Baltimore  Conference  in  1802,  and  had  therefore 
been  an  itinerant  only  fourteen  years  when  he  was 
made  a  bishop.  Until  1808  he  traveled  large  circuits. 
But  his  preaching  at  the  General  Conference  of  that 
year  made  so  great  an  impression  that  he  was  sta- 
tioned in  Baltimore.  After  the  expiration  of  his  term 
in  that  city,  he  was  removed  to  Philadelphia.  His 
next  appointment  was  to  the  Schuylkill  District,  from 
which  post  he  was  raised  to  the  episcopacy.  His  char- 
acter was  sound  and  stanch.  He  had  a  genuine  Chris- 
tian experience  and  preached  with  much  power.  His 
great  size  interfered  somewhat  with  the  discharge  of 
his  duties.  He  weighed  two  hundred  and  twenty 
pounds.  No  horse  could  easily  carry  him  on  a  long 
journey,  and  as  a  result  he  was  often  late  in  reaching 
the  Conferences.  His  sympathies  were  very  acute,  and 
he  sometimes  allowed  them  to  sway  his  Judgment. 
That  was  the  weak  spot  in  his  administration.  His 
modesty  was  almost  morbid.  Bishop  Paine  says :  "His 
whole  person  indicated  him  to  be  one  of  nature's  noble- 
men. His  features  were  large,  benignant,  and  Intel- 
lectual. His  head  was  of  uncommon  size ;  his  fore- 
head was  high  and  massive ;  his  eyes  blue  or  hazel- 
colored  ;  his  manner  of  address  always  easy  and  grace- 
ful ;  his  voice  a  deep  bass,  but  soft  and  musical.  .  .  . 
The  art  of  oratory  he  never  studied,  and  yet  occa- 
sionally he  almost  reached  the  highest  standard  In  that 


158  Life  of  William  McKendree. 

noblest  of  all  arts.  He  practiced  the  art  without  know- 
ing it,  for  nature  and  grace  made  him  an  orator." 

Bishop  George  was  born  in  1768  or  1769  in  the 
northern  neck  of  Mrginia.  Like  William  ]^IcKendree, 
he  was  converted  under  the  ministry  of  John  Easter. 
He  was  admitted  into  the  Baltimore  Conference  in 
1789.  After  traveling  about  ten  years  in  Virginia, 
North  Carolina,  and  Georgia,  he  located  in  1799;  but 
he  was  readmitted  by  the  Baltimore  Conference  in  1800 
and  made  presiding  elder,  in  which  office  he  continued 
for  eight  years.  ''He  was  low  of  stature,  but  stoutly 
built.  His  features  were  grave  and  expressive;  his 
eyes  were  small  and  deeply  seated  beneath  a  heavy, 
over-hanging  brow."  His  voice  was  an  instrument 
of  rare  power.  His  distinguishing  gifts  were  in  the 
pulpit.  By  all  tokens  he  must  have  been  a  really  won- 
derful preacher.  But  his  knowledge  of  constitutional 
law  was  quite  limited.  He  was  not  an  uncommon  pre- 
siding officer.  His  lack  of  capacity  in  those  respects 
sorely  tried  Bishop  ^McKendree,  who  now  and  then 
talked  to  him  as  plainly  as  Paul  did  to  Peter.  Bishop 
Paine  says :  "His  very  kindness  and  lov^e  of  peace  led 
him  to  make  concessions  and  compromises  which  might 
have  been  very  prejudicial  to  the  interests  of  the 
Church."  But  he  was  deeply  loved  and  much  sought 
after  in  ever}^  part  of  the  Church. 

The  General  Conference  created  two  new  Confer- 
ences, one  in  Missouri  and  one  in  Mississippi,  of  which 
more  by  and  by.  It  did  also  a  wise  thing  in  electing 
Joshua  Soule  to  the  book  agency.  He  had  no  experi- 
ence in  such  matters :  but  he  took  the  Book  Concern 
when  it  was  sorely  pressed  for  ready  money,  made  a 


In  Full  Swing.  159 

loan  to  meet  the  emergency,  toiled  almost  night  and 
day  at  his  task,  and  soon  had  everything  in  shipshape. 
As  a  sort  of  side  issue  he  edited  for  two  years — 1818-20 
— the  Methodist  Magazine  and  ran  up  the  subscription 
list  to  ten  thousand. 

The  old  question  of  electing  the  presiding  elders 
was  again  up.  Samuel  Merwin  moved  that  they  be 
chosen  by  the  Annual  Conferences  on  the  nomination 
of  the  bishops.  To  this  motion  Nathan  Bangs  offered 
an  amendment,  which  was  accepted  by  the  mover,  as 
follows :  "And  the  presiding  elder  so  elected  and  ap- 
pointed shall  remain  in  office  for  four  years,  unless 
sooner  dismissed  by  the  mutual  consent  of  the  bishop 
and  the  Conference  or  unless  he  be  elected  to  some 
other  office  by  the  General  Conference.  But  no  pre- 
siding elder  shall  be  removed  from  office  during  the 
term  of  four  years  without  his  consent  unless  the 
reasons  for  such  removal  be  stated  to  him  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  bishop  and  the  Conference,  who  shall  de- 
cide without  debate."  The  vote  being  taken  on  the 
amended  motion,  it  was  lost  by  forty-two  to  sixty. 
McKendree  said  nothing,  but  was  keenly  watchful. 

The  matter  of  slavery  also  was  again  pushed  to  the 
front  as  "unfinished  business."  Since  1808  each  An- 
nual Conference  had  been  authorized  to  make  its  own 
rules  on  the  subject.  This  arrangement  was  satis- 
factory to  nobody,  least  of  all  to  the  extreme  aboli- 
tionists, whose  consciences  clamored  for  drastic  action. 
After  the  hearing  of  a  report  which  expressed  little 
hope  for  the  early  extirpation  of  the  evil,  the  law  was 
changed  so  as  to  read:  "No  slaveholder  shall  be  eligi- 
ble to  any  official  station  in  our  Church  hereafter 
II 


i6o  Life  of  William  McKendree. 

where  the  laws  of  the  State  in  which  he  hves  will  ad- 
mit of  emancipation  and  permit  the  liberated  slave  to 
enjoy  freedom."  Though  agitation  was  kept  up  with- 
out ceasing,  this  enactment  was  kept  in  force  unaltered 
till  1844.  Under  it  the  Southern  delegates  in  that  year 
insisted  that  Bishop  Andrew  had  broken  no  rule  of 
the  Discipline  and  challenged  a  formal  trial.  The  fail- 
ure to  answer  this  challenge  was  proof  that  it  could 
not  be  answered. 

Among  other  Items  of  business  transacted  was  one 
instructing  the  bishops  to  prescribe  a  course  of  study 
for  undergraduates  in  the  ministry.  The  course  when 
it  appeared  covered  only  two  years  and  was  rather 
scant.  It  was  due  chiefly  to  the  wisdom  of  John 
Emory  that  it  was  later  enlarged  and  extended  to  four 
years.  James  Axley,  grim  and  resolute,  got  the  floor 
once  more  with  his  resolution  prohibiting  traveling 
or  local  preachers  from  engaging  In  the  distillation 
or  sale  of  whisky  and  other  liquors  and  had  the  satis- 
faction of  seeing  it  passed.  The  journal  shows,  how- 
ever, that  there  were  some  members  of  the  Conference 
who  still  thought  It  too  radical. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 
Senior  Bishop  of  the  Church. 

It  is  certain  that  Asbury  had  expected  McKendree 
to  be  what  Whatcoat  was,  a  sort  of  assistant  bishop. 
In  that  expectation  he  had  been,  in  some  measure,  dis- 
appointed. McKendree  knew  that,  strictly  speaking, 
there  is  no  difference  of  rank  in  the  Methodist  Episco- 
pacy. When  it  became  necessary  he  did  not  hesitate 
to  act  on  his  own  judgment;  but  his  manner  was  al- 
ways courteous,  and  he  at  no  time  forgot  the  personal 
priority  of  Asbury.  From  now  on  he  was  himself  to 
be  an  elder  brother  in  close  official  relations  with 
younger  and  less  experienced  colleagues  and  would 
find  it  necessary  to  exercise  a  form  and  measure  of 
leadership  somewhat  different  from  that  which  he  had 
before  displayed.  In  taking  this  new  attitude  he  was 
not  guilty  of  presumption,  but  was  simply  meeting  a 
providential  responsibility. 

Being  essentially  a  man  of  system,  one  of  McKen- 
dree's  first  steps  with  his  new  colleagues  was  to  sug- 
gest the  devising  of  a  definite  plan  for  the  distribution 
of  their  work  among  themselves.  He  saw  that  it  was 
neither  necessary  nor  always  advisable  that  all  three 
of  them  should  attend  every  Annual  Conference,  and 
Roberts  and  George  agreed  with  him.  On  delibera- 
tion, therefore,  they  concluded  to  make  the  circuit  of 
the  Conferences  alternately,  changing  their  fields  every 
year.  In  due  course  of  time  this  would  bring  each  one 
of  them  into  every  part  of  the  Church  and  serve  the 

(i6i) 


i62  Life  of  IVilliayn  McKendrcc. 

interests  of  connectionalism.  It  was  also  arranged 
that  if  by  chance  any  two  or  more  of  the  bishops  should 
be  present  at  the  same  Conference,  then  the  one  as- 
signed to  it  should  be  its  responsible  President,  and 
the  others  should  act  simply  as  counselors  or  advisers. 
The  wise  order  thus  early  instituted  continues  to  this 
day.  It  prevents  any  possible  friction  or  clashing  of 
jurisdiction  and  helps  to  maintain  the  actual  unity  of 
the  episcopacy.  Experience  has  proved,  moreover, 
that  it  is  not  always  best  for  a  visiting  bishop  to  be  too 
free  even  in  the  matter  of  offering  advice.  Without  a 
full  knowledge  of  the  whole  situation  he  might  do 
more  harm  than  good  by  putting  in  his  hand. 

The  plan  having  been  adopted,  it  was  further  agreed 
to  put  it  in  actual  operation  after  the  session  of  the 
Ohio  Conference  in  the  coming  September.  Bishop 
AIcKendree  then  expressed  the  opinion  that  as  Bishops 
Roberts  and  George  were  just  entering  upon  their  re- 
sponsibilities it  would  be  well  for  them  to  accompany 
him  to  the  New  York,  New  England,  and  Genesee 
Conferences,  which  were  soon  to  meet,  so  that  they 
might  see  the  state  of  things,  harmonize  their  views 
and  methods  of  transacting  business,  and  thus  fore- 
stall the  danger  of  conflicts  of  administration  when 
they  should  be  apart  from  one  another.  Bishop  Rob- 
erts at  once  acceded  to  the  proposition,  but  Bishop 
George  had  business  that  called  him  elsewhere,  and, 
besides,  he  confessed  that  "he  did  not  see  why  it  was 
necessary  for  three  men  to  go  and  do  one  man's  work." 
Accordingly  they  went  their  way,  and  he,  for  the  time, 
went  his.  The  New  York  Conference  convened  in 
New  York  City  June  i,  and  the  New  England  at  Bris- 


Senior  Bishop  of  the  Church.  163 

tol,  R.  L,  June  22.  From  the  latter  place  Roberts  re- 
turned to  his  home  in  Pennsylvania,  his  object  being  to 
take  his  wife  (he  was  without  children)  to  the  West, 
where  he  expected  to  make  his  home.  At  the  Gene- 
see Conference,  held  at  Paris,  N.  Y.,  July  23,  Bishop 
George  put  in  an  appearance;  and  he  and  McKendree 
traveled  thence  together  to  the  Ohio  Conference,  held 
at  Louisville,  Ky.,  September  3.  The  faithful  Roberts, 
having  set  his  own  affairs  in  order  without  delay,  fell 
in  with  them  again  at  this  point. 

In  making  out  their  first  schedule,  which  they  now 
proceeded  to  do,  a  slight  difficulty  arose.  The  hardest 
assignments  were  the  two  new  Conferences  which  the 
General  Conference  had  ordered  to  be  organized  in 
Missouri  and  Mississippi.  With  characteristic  courage 
and  magnanimity  McKndree  offered  to  take  either 
one  of  them  and  let  his  junior  colleagues  say  between 
themselves  which  should  take  the  other.  George,  for 
some  reason  or  other,  did  not  find  it  convenient  to 
journey  to  the  frontier;  and  so  McKendree  went  to 
Missouri  and  Roberts  to  Mississippi,  which  arrange- 
ment made  it  necessary  for  them  both  to  add  many 
hundred  miles  to  their  travels.  In  the  meantime 
George  occupied  himself,  profitably,  no  doubt,  in  visit- 
ing and  preaching  among  his  old  friends  in  Georgia. 

The  Missouri  Conference  at  its  organization  included 
all  of  Illinois,  Missouri,  and  Arkansas.  The  first  ses- 
sion met  at  Shiloh  ]\Ieetinghouse,  in  Illinois,  where 
the  city  of  Belleville  now  stands.  It  was  most  fit  that 
Bishop  McKendree  should  preside.  He  had  visited  the 
field  often  and  knew  it  thoroughly.  No  other  man 
could  have  been  so  welcome.     The  Conference  was 


164  Life  of  William  McKendree. 

divided  into  two  districts,  the  Missouri  and  the  IlHnois, 
and  twenty-one  preachers  received  appointments.  At 
the  head  of  the  former  district  was  Jesse  Walker,  and 
of  the  latter,  Samuel  II.  Thompson.  The  Missouri 
District  included  one  circuit  in  Arkansas,  the  Hot 
Springs,  with  William  Stevenson  in  charge.  The  total 
membership  reported  for  the  year  was  three  thousand 
one  hundred  and  seventy-three.  Out  of  such  feeble 
beginnings  has  grown  the  giant  Methodism  of  three 
great  States.  McKendree's  second  Conference  was  the 
Tennessee,  at  Franklm,  October  20.  So  he  did  not 
have  much  time  to  tarry  with  his  brethren  in  the  West. 
At  the  Tennessee  Conference  nothing  unusual  took 
place.  After  a  brief  visit  among  his  kindred  in  that 
quarter,  he  passed  on  to  the  South  Carolina  Confer- 
ence, which  was  to  convene  at  Columbia  December 
26.  In  the  meantime  Roberts  had  accomplished  his 
journey  to  ^Mississippi.  At  Columbia  ^^IcKendree 
found  George  awaiting  him.  The  session  was  pleasant 
and  profitable.  The  Bishop's  journal  notes  the  follow- 
ing fact:  ''Bishop  George  continued  with  me  the  re- 
maining Conferences  of  my  work  and  then  entered 
upon  his  own  course.  But  instead  of  relaxing  my 
labors  I  continued  with  him  to  the  Conferences  in  his 
division  of  the  work,  although  I  had  attended  them 
last  year  with  Bishop  Roberts."  This  arrangement 
took  him  again  up  the  coast  to  the  far  north  and 
brought  him  to  the  New  England  Conference,  at  Con- 
cord, N.  H.,  May  16,  1817,  and  thence  to  the  New 
York  Conference,  at  Middlebury,  Vt.,  on  June  17. 
"Between  the  two  places,"  he  says,  "we  traveled 
through  a  fall  of  snow,  the  weather  being  so  cold  that 


Senior  Bishop  of  the  Church.  165 

some  of  our  company  from  the  South  had  their  faces 
frostbitten." 

At  Middlebury  the  two  bishops  parted,  and  Mc- 
Kendree  returned  to  Tennessee.  Passing  by  the  head 
of  Lake  Champlain,  he  turned  aside  a  Httle  way  to  see 
the  British  fleet  which  Commodore  McDonough  had 
captured  September  11,  1814,  and  then  moved  right 
on  through  New  York  and  Philadelphia  to  the  eastern 
shore  of  Maryland,  from  which  he  crossed  the  bay  to 
Baltimore.  At  that  place  a  little  Dearborn  wagon, 
which  he  had  bought  in  Philadelphia  with  a  view  of 
lessening  the  excessive  fatigue  of  riding,  met  him. 
Resting  for  a  few  days  and  then  using  his  new  vehicle, 
he  passed  through  ^laryland  and  Pennsylvania,  crossed 
the  Alleghanies  to  Wheeling,  Va.,  and  so  on  through 
Ohio  and  Kentucky  to  his  brother's  home  in  Sumner 
County,  Tenn.  There  he  met  his  old  traveling  com- 
panion, James  Norton,  who  once  more  joined  him  in 
the  same  capacity. 

On  October  17  they  started  to  the  Mississippi  Con- 
ference, which  w^as  scheduled  for  Midway,  Miss.,  No- 
vember 7,  18 17.  Of  all  the  Bishop's  journeys,  few 
were  harder  than  this.  As  the  roads  were  not  adapted 
to  his  w^agon,  he  sold  it  and  procured  a  pack  horse  to 
carry  food  for  himself  and  his  companions  through  the 
Indian  nations.  At  Franklin  they  were  joined  by  Wil- 
liam IMcMahon,  of  great  fame  in  Western  Method- 
ism, and  his  wife,  who  were  going  on  a  visit  to  her 
father,  Judge  Seth  Lewis,  in  Louisiana.  Such  company 
relieved  the  tedium  of  the  way.  In  the  face  of  heavy 
rains,    high   waters,    and    some    apprehensions    from 


i66  Life  of  William  McKendree. 

drunken  Indians,  they  got  through  safely  and  had  a 
ver)'  agreeable  time  at  the  Conference. 

The  session  being  ended,  the  next  thing  was  to  get 
to  the  South  CaroHna  Conference,  at  Augusta,  Ga., 
Januar}'  2y,  1818.  To  effect  that  end  it  was  necessar>' 
for  them  to  cross  the  two  territories  of  Mississippi  and 
Alabama  and  the  whole  State  of  Georgia.  Winter  was 
at  hand.  The  rain  came  in  torrents;  all  the  streams 
were  full;  many  of  them  overflowed  their  banks  and 
covered  the  low-lying  lands  for  miles.  But,  with 
Thomas  Grifiin  as  guide,  they  did  not  falter  at  difficul- 
ties or  dangers.  In  crossing  a  deep  and  rapid  creek  in 
Alabama,  and  again  in  crossing  the  Chattahoochee 
River,  they  were  put  in  grave  peril  of  their  lives. 
More  than  once  they  slept  in  the  open  woods.  Now 
and  then,  without  being  aware  of  it,  they  were  close  to 
roving  bands  of  Creek  Indians,  who  were  still  in  a 
murderous  mood.  As  they  were  going  out  of  the  na- 
tion they  met  General  Gaines  going  in  and  got  much 
information  from  him.  It  was  with  feelings  of  the 
deepest  relief  and  gratitude  that  they  reached  at  last 
the  hospitable  home  of  the  Bishop's  beloved  friend 
Lucas,  at  Sparta,  Ga.  There  they  gladly  remained  for 
nine  days. 

The  Bishop's  journal  reads :  "Having  some  spare 
time  before  me,  I  determined  to  rest  and  recruit  my 
health."  But  the  people  would  not  let  him  rest.  "They 
prevailed  on  me  to  be  contented  to  rest  the  horses 
while  they  took  me  to  popular  meetings  on  the  two 
following  Sabbaths."  To  fill  in  the  remainder  of  his 
leisure  he  and  Lewis  Myers  then  visited  Louisville, 
the  old  capital  of  the  State,  Savannah  and  Charleston, 


Senior  Bishop  of  the  Church.  167 

not  sparing  himself  of  labor  at  any  point,  and  got  to 
Augusta  the  clay  before  the  Conference  opened. 

This  Conference  was  included  in  the  assignments  of 
Bishop  Roberts;  but  he  did  not  reach  it  till  the  fifth 
day,  his  horse  having  broken  down  on  the  route.  His 
presence  was  greatly  needed,  as  there  was  some  *'deli- 
cate  and  eventful  business"  to  manage.  But  McKen- 
dree  took  his  place  and,  of  course,  handled  everything 
with  wisdom  and  discretion  and  to  the  great  satisfac- 
tion of  Bishop  Roberts,  whose  spirit  was  beautiful  and 
brotherly. 

Roberts's  next  Conference  was  to  be  at  Norfolk, 
Va.,  February  26,  and  he  begged  McKendree  to  ac- 
company him  thither  also.  "But,"  says  the  latter,  "as 
this  would  add  six  hundred  miles'  traveling  to  my  al- 
ready excessive  labors,  I  was  not  disposed  to  do  so  and 
therefore  took  leave  of  him  and  set  out  on  my  west- 
ward tour.  But,  reflecting  on  his  situation — a  stranger 
to  the  way  and  the  people,  his  horse  with  a  sore  back, 
and  having  barely  time  to  get  to  the  Conference,  after 
riding  five  miles — I  determined  to  return  and  accom- 
pany him  if  he  had  not  gone.  I  found  him,  and  he  was 
delighted.  We  started  early  the  next  morning  for 
Norfolk.  Our  time  on  the  trip  was  diligently  im- 
proved, traveling  from  thirty  to  forty-five  miles  a  day. 
Rain  did  not  stop  us.  Saturday  we  had  our  linen 
washed;  on  the  Sabbath  I  preached;  and  thus  we 
pushed  on  and  got  to  Norfolk  the  day  before  Confer- 
ence was  opened.  The  back  of  the  Bishop's  horse  was 
well,  and  the  preachers  and  people  were  glad  to  see  us." 

Unexpectedly,  Bishop  George  was  on  hand.    With- 
out consulting  his  colleagues,  he  had  appointed  Dr. 


1 68  Life  of  William  McKendree. 

Phoebus  missionary  to  Xew  Orleans  and  had  brought 
him  and  his  family  that  far  on  the  way.  But  he  had 
made  no  provision  whatever  for  the  Doctor's  support, 
which  would  be  at  least  one  thousand  dollars.  \>ry 
characteristically  he  now  asked  McKendree  to  assume 
the  whole  responsibility.  That  was  presuming  a  little 
too  far.  The  man  who  had  gone  hundreds  of  miles 
out  of  his  way  to  accommodate  Bishop  Roberts  drew 
back  and  declined  to  take  this  new  load,  though  he 
expressed  a  willingness  to  advance  a  hundred  dollars 
at  once  and  to  raise  five  hundred  more  if  his  two 
colleagues  would  undertake  to  get  the  rest.  The  result 
was  that  Dr.  Phoebus,  who  was  in  every  way  fitted  for 
the  mission,  returned  to  New  York. 

''The  Conference  closed  with  encouraging  prospects, 
and  the  preachers  parted  in  love."  ^IcKendree  turned 
his  face  toward  Tennessee.  As  far  as  Lynchburg,  two 
hundred  miles  away,  he  had  the  company  of  preachers. 
But  from  there  to  Kentucky,  not  less  than  three  hun- 
dred miles  farther,  he  traveled  alone,  leading  his  pack 
horse  all  the  way.  He  reached  his  brother's  home 
about  April  i.  Pausing  only  a  few  days,  he  ''resumed 
his  plan  of  visiting  the  Churches  on  the  Western 
frontier."  This  side  trip,  a  sort  of  work  of  superero- 
gation, took  him  through  Indiana,  Illinois,  and  ]\Iis- 
souri,  where  he  visited  a  great  many  Churches,  attend- 
ed three  camp  meetings,  and  labored  with  all  the  ac- 
tivity of  a  young  man.  Returning,  he  crossed  the  Ohio 
River  at  Louisville  and  spent  several  months  of  in- 
cessant toil  in  Kentucky  and  Ohio,  preaching  at  thirty 
or  forty  different  places  and  getting  to  the  Ohio  Con- 
ference, at  Steubenville,  on  August  7,  1818. 


Senior  Bishop  of  the  Church.  169 

His  own  comment  on  the  year's  labors  deserves  to 
be  inserted  here: 

From  Middlebury,  Vt.,  June  13,  1817,  to  this  place  I 
have  traveled  over  a  very  large  tract  of  country.  My  rides 
have  been  excessively  hard.  My  ministerial  services  in  Con- 
ferences, camp  meetings,  and  quarterly  meetings,  added  to 
visiting  the  Churches  throughout  the  districts  and  circuits, 
have  been  abundant,  and  I  am  now  feeling  the  effects  in  a 
manner  heretofore  unknown  to  me,  and  instead  of  relaxation 
my  work  is  rather  more  vigorous.  Here,  according  to  our 
division,  my  course  begins  and  terminates  at  the  Mississippi 
Conference. 

No  wonder  he  was  beginning  to  feel  the  effects  of 
such  toils.  The  real  wonder  is  that  he  had  not  entirely 
succumbed  to  them.  From  that  time  till  the  day  of  his 
death  he  was  never  really  a  well  man.  On  his  way  to 
the  Mississippi  Conference,  a  few  weeks  later,  he  was 
overcome  by  what  he  describes  as  "a  sudden  shock" 
(possibly  apoplectic)  and  escaped  falling  from  his 
horse  only  by  easing  himself  out  of  the  saddle.  In  the 
course  of  two  weeks  two  other  shocks  followed.  Nev- 
ertheless, he  forced  himself  to  go  through  with  the 
Conference  proceedings.    Let  him  narrate  the  facts : 

On  the  first  day  of  the  session,  October  29,  1818,  I  presided, 
but  was  exceedingly  debilitated,  owing  mainly  to  my  attack 
and  partly  to  the  error  I  committed  in  having  blood  taken  and 
using  an  emetic.  The  second  day  the  little  Conference  of  ten 
members  met  in  my  room.  I  was  in  the  bed,  but  the  President 
pro  tern,  sat  near  my  bedside,  and  the  business  of  the  Confer- 
ence was  done  properly.  It  was  a  camp  meeting  Conference, 
and  on  the  Sabbath  there  was  preaching  on  the  camp  ground. 
I  was  taken  in  a  carriage  to  the  camp  ground  and  lay  on  a 
bed  near  the  stand  during  preaching,  having  been  assisted  to 
the  place  and  supported  by  two  preachers  while  performing 


170  Life  of  William  McKendrce. 

the  ordination.  Monday  morning  the  preachers  met,  received 
their  appointments,  and  took  an  affectionate  leave  of  each 
other — except  John  Lane,  Thomas  Griffin,  and  Benjamin 
Edge,  who  waited  a  few  days  to  see  the  progress  of  my 
complaint. 

A  few  days  decided  his  situation.  He  could  not 
move.  Until  the  ist  of  Februar)-  he  continued  to  be 
the  gtiest  of  the  Fords.    He  says : 

Every  mark  of  attention  was  shown  me,  insomuch  that  I 
was  humbled  under  a  sense  of  obligation  to  the  whole  family. 
Sister  Ford  was  a  mother  indeed  to  me,  and  her  daughters 
were  nursing  sisters.  A  colored  lad  voluntarily  took  to  nurs- 
ing me.  He  would  lie  by  my  bed  at  night  and  wake  up  at  the 
slightest  noise,  and  was  in  every  way  the  most  attentive  boy 
I  ever  saw.  Brother  Edge  had  been  sent  to  a  circuit,  but  left 
it  to  attend  me. 

About  the  middle  of  February  he  ventured  to  move 
by  easy  stages  to  Colonel  Richardson's,  near  Natchez, 
by  whom,  and  especially  by  Dr.  Winans  and  Judge 
IMcGehee,  he  was  most  comfortably  entertained  for 
several  weeks.  In  March,  not  wisely  perhaps,  he  ven- 
tured to  accompany  Dr.  Winans  on  a  visit  to  the  infant 
Church  in  Xew  Orleans,  and  then  returned  to  his  asy- 
lum in  the  country.  Being  advised  by  his  physician 
that  he  ought  to  leave  that  region  before  the  coming 
of  summer,  he  accordingly,  about  April  15,  started 
back  to  Tennessee.  That  princely  layman,  Edward 
McGehee,  gave  him  a  light  Jersey  wagon  for  the  trip 
and  stocked  it  with  all  sorts  of  provisions.  John  Lane 
and  Benjamin  Edge  accompanied  him.  They  were  ten 
days  in  passing  through  the  Indian  countr}'.  Hotels 
along  the  way  there  were  none,  and  "stands"  were 
few  and  far  between.     Eight  nights  they  slept  in  the 


Senior  Bishop  of  the  Church,  171 

woods.  Notwithstanding  all  this,  McKendree's  health 
steadily  improved,  and  he  reached  his  brother's  home 
in  safety. 

After  resting  among  his  own  folks  for  a  few  weeks, 
he  went  with  William  MacMahon  and  wife  to  the 
Harrodsburg  Springs,  in  Kentucky,  and  derived  bene- 
fit from  drinking  the  waters.  Assisted  from  place  to 
place  and  pausing  to  visit  old  friends  as  he  went,  he 
got  to  Cincinnati  in  time  for  the  Ohio  Conference, 
August  17,  1819.  Having  greatly  enjoyed  the  fellow- 
ship of  the  brethren,  he  slowly  wended  his  way  back 
once  more  to  his  brother's,  in  Tennessee,  and  there 
spent  the  most  of  the  winter.  That  was  more  like  home 
to  him  than  any  other  place  on  earth. 

This  particular  period  of  McKendree's  life  was  not 
without  its  compensations.  It  brought  him  great 
searchings  of  heart.  His  own  account  of  it  is  most 
interesting  and,  as  throwing  a  light  on  his  religious 
experience,  deserves  to  be  reproduced  here : 

During  this  affliction  I  was  brought  to  examine  my  life  in 
relation  to  eternity  closer  than  I  had  done  when  in  the  enjoy- 
ment of  health.  The  spiritual  and  temporal  business  of  the 
Church  has  become  so  complicated,  spread  out  over  so  vast 
a  territory,  and  involves  so  many  responsible  and  delicate 
official  acts  that  I  have  been  almost  constantly  mentally  em- 
ployed and  frequently  greatly  perplexed  and  distressed  in  its 
management.  In  this  examination,  relative  to  the  discharge 
of  my  duties  toward  my  fellow  creatures  as  a  man,  a  Christian 
minister,  and  an  officer  of  the  Church,  I  stood  approved  by  my 
own  conscience;  but  in  relation  to  my  Redeemer  and  Saviour 
the  result  was  different.  My  returns  of  gratitude  and  loving 
obedience  bear  no  proportion  to  my  obligations  for  redeeming, 
preserving,  and  supporting  me  through  the  vicissitudes  of  life 
from  infancy  to  old  age.    The  coldness  of  my  love  to  him  "who 


1/2  Life  of  William  McKcndrcc. 

first  loved  me"  and  has  done  so  much  for  me  overwhelmed 
and  confused  me ;  and  to  complete  my  unworthy  character  I 
had  not  only  neglected  to  improve  the  grace  given  to  the  extent 
of  my  privilege  and  duty,  but  for  want  of  that  improvement 
had,  while  abounding  in  perplexing  care  and  labor,  declined 
from  first  love  and  zeal.  I  was  confounded,  humbled  myself, 
implored  mercy,  and  renewed  my  covenant  to  strive  and  devote 
myself  unreservedly  to  the  Lord. 

During  the  latter  part  of  Februar}',  1820,  in  com- 
pany with  Andrew  ^lonroe,  who  has  left  a  wonderfully 
readable  narrative  of  the  journey,  he  made  the  trip 
across  the  Cumberland  ^Mountains,  through  East  Ten- 
nessee, and  thence  on  to  Alexandria,  \'a.,  where,  quite 
unexpectedly  to  the  body,  he  dropped  in  on  the  Balti- 
more Conference  and  got  such  a  reception  as  must 
have  warmed  his  heart  for  many  a  day. 

So  closed  the  twelfth  year  of  his  general  superin- 
tendency.  Though  somewhat  broken  in  health,  he 
was  at  high  tide  in  the  esteem  and  affection  of  the 
whole  Church.  With  the  exception  of  Asbur)%  no  oth- 
er man  had  ever  been  so  esteemed  in  the  connection. 
Nor  has  any  man  ever  succeeded  him  who  held  the 
Church  more  closely  in  the  hollow  of  his  hand. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 
Defending  the  Constitution. 

The  ratio  of  representation  having  been  reduced, 
the  General  Conference  of  1820  was  smaller  than 
either  of  the  two  preceding  ones,  being  composed  of 
only  eighty-nine  delegates  from  eleven  Annual  Con- 
ferences. The  three  bishops  were  present.  McKen- 
dree  took  the  chair  and,  according  to  his  custom,  pre- 
sented a  written  address.  Roberts  and  George  made 
oral  addresses.  The  plan  of  having  the  bishops  to 
write  one  address  representing  them  all  had  not  yet 
been  adopted.  From  beginning  to  end  the  session  was 
full  of  interest  and  often  of  excitement.  Many  im- 
portant measures  were  debated  and  adopted.  All  In 
all,  It  was  a  memorable  Conference. 

After  the  failure  of  Cokesbury  College,  In  1795,  the 
Church  for  a  long  time  took  no  further  steps  In  the 
matter  of  education.  Recently,  however,  there  had 
been  sporadic  Indications  of  a  fresh  awakening  on 
the  subject,  and  the  General  Conference,  following  the 
signs  of  the  times,  recommended  that  district  schools 
and  colleges,  under  the  care  of  the  Annual  Confer- 
ences, be  established  in  every  part  of  the  Church  and 
authorized  the  bishops  to  appoint  traveling  ministers 
as  presidents,  principals,  and  teachers  for  these  insti- 
tutions without  reference  to  the  time  limit.  During  the 
next  four  years  Augusta  College,  under  the  joint  pat- 
ronage of  the  Kentucky  and  Ohio  Conferences,  was 
founded,  and  many  others  of  like  grade   followed. 

(173) 


174  Life  of  IVilliam  McKcndree. 

Some  of  them  were  not  well  placed  nor  wisely  managed 
and  soon  failed,  but  the  most  of  them  survive  in  vigor- 
ous life  till  this  day.  Tlie  contribution  which  they  have 
made  to  the  intellectual  and  religious  growth  of  the 
country'  is  almost  beyond  estimate. 

Growing  out  of  an  effort  to  give  systematic  assist- 
ance to  Rev.  Mark  Moore,  who  was  struggling  man- 
fully to  get  a  foothold  for  the  Church  in  Xew  Orleans, 
a  General  Missionar}^  Society  had  been  organized  in 
New  York  in  April,  1819,  by  Joshua  Soule,  Freeborn 
Garrettson,  Nathan  Bangs,  Laban  Clark,  and  others. 
Its  achievements  had  not  yet  been  great.  For  the  first 
year  it  collected  only  $823.64.  But  it  opened  the  eyes 
of  the  Church  to  a  great  need  and  was  now  taken 
over  by  the  General  Conference  and  made  connectional 
in  its  scope. 

For  a  long  time  there  had  been  misunderstandings 
between  the  preachers  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  in  Canada  and  the  missionaries  sent  out  to 
that  country  by  the  British  Wesleyan  Missionary  Soci- 
ety, and  in  1816  the  Society  had  addressed  a  long  let- 
ter to  the  General  Conference  urging  an  amicable 
settlement.  But  the  Conference,  after  hearing  from 
the  Canadian  delegates.  Black  and  Bennett,  declared: 
*'We  cannot  consistently  with  our  duty  to  the  soci- 
eties of  our  charge  in  Canada  give  up  any  part  of 
them,  or  any  of  our  chapels  in  those  provinces,  to  the 
superintendence  of  the  British  connection."  That  was 
taking  an  extreme  position  and  an  indefensible  one. 

As  the  troubles  grew  it  was  now  determined  to  send 
a  delegate  to  England  for  the  purpose  of  securing  a 
complete  and  brotherly  adjustment,  and  John  Emory, 


Defending  the  Constitutioft.  175 

young  but  wise,  was  chosen  for  the  mission.  Before 
he  started  the  bishops  gave  him  a  letter  of  instructions, 
in  which  they  said,  among  other  things:  "We  are  of 
opinion  that  the  most  effectual  means  to  prevent  col- 
lision in  the  future  will  be  to  establish  a  specific  line 
by  which  our  field  of  labors  shall  be  bounded  on  the 
one  side  and  the  British  missionaries  on  the  other." 
Acting  on  this  principle,  Emory  fully  achieved  the  end 
for  which  he  was  sent.  It  was  agreed  that  the  British 
Methodists  should  have  the  exclusive  occupancy  of 
Lower  Canada  and  the  Americans  of  Upper  Canada. 
This  compact,  honorable  to  all  concerned,  was  fully 
and  faithfully  executed.  O !  if  in  1844  ^^^  after- 
wards !  The  Committee  on  Episcopacy,  noting  the 
great  weakness  of  Bishop  McKendree,  brought  in  an 
early  report,  recommending  that  he  be  released  from 
all  work  except  such  as  he  himself  might  feel  free  to 
undertake,  and  also  that  ample  provision  should  be 
made  for  any  extra  expenses  connected  with  his  illness 
and  infirmity.  The  Bishop  was  profoundly  moved  by 
this  display  of  generosity  and  carried  the  memory  of 
it  through  all  the  coming  years. 

On  May  9th  the  committee  further  reported  that  "it 
is  expedient  that  one  additional  General  Superintend- 
ent be  elected  and  ordained  at  the  General  Confer- 
ence." This  report  was  promptly  adopted,  as  the  for- 
mer one  had  been.  On  Saturday  morning,  May  13, 
after  singing  and  prayer  led  by  Freeborn  Garrettson, 
the  roll  was  called  to  see  whether  any  delegates  were 
absent.  S.  G.  Roszell  and  D.  Ostrander  were  appoint- 
ed to  collect  and  count  the  ballots,  and  the  election 
proceeded.    The  count  showed  that  Joshua  Soule  had 

12 


176  Life  of  JVilliam  McKendrcc. 

forty-eight  votes  and  Nathan  Bangs  thirty-eight.  Only 
three  votes  were  scattering.  Looked  at  in  the  Hght  of 
subsequent  events,  it  is  clear  that  Soule  had  received 
the  undivided  support  of  the  strict  Constitutionalists, 
and  Bangs  that  of  those  who  leaned  to  a  lax  construc- 
tion of  the  Restrictive  Rules.  The  lines  were  closely 
drawn,  as  they  continued  to  be  till  the  end  of  the 
Conference.  But  if  there  was  anything  like  logrolling 
or  political  manipulation,  no  trace  of  it  is  left  in  the 
record.  In  the  midst  of  intense  feeling  men  stood  by 
their  convictions — that  was  all.  ]\Iy  reason  for  being 
so  full  at  this  point  is  that  McKendree  played  a  large, 
not  to  say  a  determining,  part  in  the  proceedings  that 
now  followed.  If  any  other  reason  were  necessary,  it 
could  be  found  in  the  intrinsic  importance  of  what 
took  place. 

Dr.  Horace  M.  Du  Bose,  the  only  worthy  biographer 
of  Soule,  has  given  so  admirable  an  account  of  that 
great  and  noble  man  that  it  would  be  superfluous  to 
deal  with  him  extensively  in  this  volume.  This  much, 
however,  may  be  properly  said  of  him  at  any  time : 
that  he  was,  with  the  exception  of  ^IcKendree,  far  and 
away  the  most  commanding  figure  of  his  generation 
in  American  Methodism.  And  a  little  more  of  a  bio- 
graphical character  must  also  be  added  in  common 
justice.  Descended  from  George  Soule,  who  came 
over  in  the  ^Mayflower,  a  New  Englandcr  of  New  Eng- 
enders both  in  his  blood  and  in  his  training,  a  Cal- 
vinist  by  long  inheritance,  he  became  a  convert  to 
Methodism  in  his  sixteenth  year  and  an  itinerant 
preacher  in  his  eighteenth.  Without  more  than  the 
rudiments  of  an  education  to  begin  with,  he  became  a 


Defending  the  Constitution.  177 

wide  and  diligent  reader  and  gathered  large  stores  of 
knowledge  from  many  fields.  Before  he  was  twenty- 
five  he  had  been  appointed  presiding  elder  of  a  district 
that  covered  the  State  of  Maine.  Even  at  that  time  he 
was  a  recognized  leader  of  men.  When  he  appeared 
in  the  General  Conference  of  1808  he  was  only  twenty- 
eight;  but,  in  spite  of  his  youth,  he  was  one  of  the 
committee  designated  to  frame  the  Constitution  of  the 
Church,  and,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  he  became,  more  than 
any  other  man,  the  real  author  of  that  notable  instru- 
ment. His  services  as  Book  Agent  from  18 16  to  1820 
revealed  him  as  a  business  man  of  great  capacity.  In 
the  emergency  which  I  shall  presently  describe  he 
acted  with  consummate  courage  and  candor.  When 
again  the  tides  were  out  and  running  high,  in  1844,  he 
stood  like  a  breakwater.  The  singular  steadiness  and 
consistency  of  his  whole  career  entitles  him  to  be  called 
Joshua  the  Majestic.  He  lived  till  1867,  having  mag- 
nified his  episcopal  office  for  forty-three  eventful  years, 
and  then  passed  away  in  serene  and  unshaken  hope  of 
a  better  life. 

Before  Soule  could  be  ordained — that  is  to  say,  on 
Tuesday,  IMay  16 — Timothy  Merritt  and  Beverly 
Waugh  called  up  a  resolution  which  they  had  pre- 
viously introduced,  providing  for  the  election  of  the 
presiding  elders  by  the  Annual  Conferences.  The 
same  old  straw  was  to  have  another  threshing,  and  a 
most  vigorous  one.  A  debate  of  great  ability  followed. 
It  lasted  for  two  whole  days.  Twenty-one  speakers 
took  part  in  it.  Few  converts,  if  any,  were  made  by 
either  side.  After  some  parliamentary  fencing  by  Eze- 
kiel  Cooper,  it  was  finally  moved  by  William  Capers 


178  Life  of  William  McKcndrcc. 

and  Nathan  Bangs  that  a  special  committee  of  six, 
three  from  each  side,  should  be  appointed  to  confer 
with  the  bishops  and  see  whether  something  could  not 
be  devised  that  would  be  satisfactory  to  all  parties. 
The  motion  prevailed. 

The  committee  was  composed  of  Ezekiel  Cooper, 
John  Emory,  Nathan  Bangs,  Samuel  G.  Roszell,  Joshua 
Wells,  and  William  Capers.  They  met  the  bishops, 
but  accomplished  nothing  by  the  interview,  for  the 
bishops  themselves  were  divided.  McKendree  stood 
squarely  against  the  innovation  as  involving  an  in- 
fraction of  the  Constitution.  Roberts  seemed  to  agree 
with  him,  but  was  not  quite  ready  to  assert  himself. 
George,  who  had  in  him  elements  both  of  weakness 
and  of  stubbornness,  would  say  nothing,  though  he 
knew  perfectly  well  what  he  was  going  to  do.  This 
interview  took  place  on  the  late  afternoon  or  evening 
of  Tuesday,  ]\Iay  i8th.  The  committee  adjourned  to 
meet  again  early  on  the  morning  of  the  19th.  Roszell 
Wells,  Bangs,  and  Capers  kept  the  engagement,  but 
Emory  and  Cooper,  for  some  reason  or  other,  failed 
to  appear,  and  as  a  result  of  their  absence  no  action 
was  then  taken.  WHien  the  Conference  adjourned  at 
noon,  however.  Bishop  George  requested  the  commit- 
tee to  meet  him  in  the  gallery  of  the  church  and  re- 
vealed the  fact  that  he  was  in  favor  of  what  he  called 
certain  "accommodating"  resolutions.  Roszell  was  in 
no  very  good  humor  and  interrogated  the  bishop  quite 
narrowly.  But  after  a  free  talk  the  three  Constitution- 
alists, Capers,  Wells,  and  Roszell,  consented  in  a  mo- 
ment of  weakness  and  as  a  peace  measure  to  report  the 


Defending  the  Constitution.  179 

following  resolutions,  embodying  substantially  Bishop 
George's  own  views : 

Resolved,  That,  whenever  in  any  Annual  Conference  there 
shall  be  a  vacancy  or  vacancies  in  the  office  of  presiding  elder, 
in  consequence  of  his  period  of  service  of  four  years  having 
expired,  or  the  bishop  wishing  to  remove  any  presiding  elder, 
or  by  death,  resignation,  or  otherwise,  the  bishop  or  president 
of  the  Conference,  having  ascertained  the  number  wanted 
from  any  of  these  causes,  shall  nominate  three  times  the  num- 
ber, out  of  which  the  Conference  shall  elect  by  ballot,  without 
debate,  the  number  wanted ;  provided  that  when  there  are  more 
than  one  wanted  not  more  than  three  at  a  time  shall  be  nomi- 
nated nor  more  than  one  at  a  time  shall  be  elected ;  provided, 
also,  that  in  case  of  any  vacancy  or  vacancies  in  the  office  of 
presiding  elder  in  the  interval  of  any  Annual  Conference  the 
bishops  shall  have  authority  to  fill  such  vacancy  or  vacancies 
until  the  ensuing  Annual  Conference. 

Resolved,  That  the  presiding  elders  be,  and  they  hereby  are, 
made  the  advisory  council  of  the  bishop  or  bishops  or  presi- 
dent of  the  Conference  in  stationing  the  preachers. 

EzEKiEL  Cooper, 
Stephen  G.  Roszell, 
N.  Bangs, 
J.  Wells, 
J.  Emory, 
William  Capers. 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day,  Thursday,  the 
19th,  without  much  further  discussion,  the  report  was 
taken  up  by  the  Conference  and  adopted  by  sixty-one 
to  twenty-five.  Some  of  the  opponents  of  change  had 
got  the  notion  that  the  resolutions  as  slightly  amended 
had  been  divested  of  their  unconstitutional  features ; 
and,  being  weary  of  a  strife  that  had  run  through  long 
years,  they  either  voted  for  them  or  declined  to  oppose 
them.    The  "amiable  irresolution"  of  Roberts  and  the 


i8o  Life  of  William  McKendree, 

"judicial  weakness"  of  George  contributed  to  the  re- 
sult. A  fuller  examination  of  the  resolutions,  such  as 
was  afterwards  made,  would  have  shown  at  the  time 
that  they  really  contained  every  objectionable  feature 
embodied  in  the  original  paper  of  Merritt  and  Waugh 
and  conceded  nothing  of  any  worth  to  the  defenders 
of  the  Constitution.  It  is  never  sound  policy  to  make 
a  real  or  apparent  compromise  on  a  question  of  prin- 
ciple. 

But  Soule  was  not  deluded  for  a  minute.  He 
grasped  the  full  significance  of  the  action  and  acted 
with  heroic  promptness.  In  a  letter  written  at  once 
to  Bishops  George  and  Roberts — ^IcKendree  being  a 
few  days  absent  in  the  country  on  account  of  his  health 
— he  declared  that  the  action  of  the  General  Confer- 
ence was  unconstitutional  because  it  undertook  by  a 
mere  majority  vote  to  strip  the  episcopacy  of  a  power 
bestowed  upon  it  by  organic  law,  and  he  added  that 
under  such  circumstances  he  "could  not  consistently 
with  his  convictions  of  propriety  and  obligation  enter 
upon  the  work  of  an  itinerant  General  Superintendent." 
This  language  is  so  ver)^  explicit  that  it  seems  strange 
that  anybody  should  ever  have  been  reckless  enough, 
even  in  years  of  passion  and  prejudice,  to  call  in  ques- 
tion the  perfect  sincerity  of  its  author. 

McKendree  was  also  prompt  to  speak  out.  On 
Monday  morning,  ^lay  22,  Roberts  and  George  showed 
him  Soule's  letter  and  expressed  the  opinion  that  it 
exhibited  an  indisposition  to  submit  to  the  General  Con- 
ference. McKendree  thought  not,  and  at  his  sugges- 
tion Soule  a  little  later  indorsed  on  the  back  of  it  this 
sentence:  "At  the  special  request  of  Bishop  McKen- 


Defending  the  Constitution,  i8l 

dree  I  hereby  certify  that  in  the  above  statement  I 
mean  no  more  than  that  I  cannot,  consistently  with  my 
views  of  propriety  and  responsibihty,  administer  that 
part  of  the  government  particularly  embraced  in  the 
act  of  the  General  Conference  above  mentioned." 

Soule  was  not  to  stand  alone  in  this  emergency, 
though  he  would  have  done  so  if  it  had  been  neces- 
sary. Fortunately  for  him,  the  powerful  support  of 
the  senior  bishop  now  came  to  his  help.  On  Monday 
morning,  May  22,  McKendree  was  in  his  place  on 
the  platform.  Roberts  and  George  very  courteously 
showed  him  the  letter  which  they  had  received  from 
Soule.  He  had  already,  through  a  written  commu- 
nication from  Mr.  Capers,  been  put  into  full  posses- 
sion of  all  that  had  gone  on  in  the  Conference  during 
his  few  days  of  absence  and  had  prepared  a  ringing 
protest  against  the  so-called  "peace  measure."  This 
protest,  along  with  Soule's  letter,  he  now  presented  to 
the  Conference.  In  his  journal  he  says  that  the  pro- 
test contains  "an  intimation"  of  his  opinions  con- 
cerning "the  constitutional  difficulty."  Intimation  is 
scarcely  the  term  with  which  to  describe  his  remarks. 
A  straighter  or  more  downright  document  was  never 
penned.  Every  word  of  it  shows  intense  conviction. 
The  importance  of  it  justifies  its  reproduction  in  full: 

Baltimore,  May  22,  1820. 
To  the  Bishops  and  General  Conference,  now  in  session. 

On  Saturday  evening  I  received  a  copy  of  the  resolution 
which  passed  on  the  19th  instant,  which,  contrary  to  the  estab- 
lished order  of  our  Church,  authorizes  the  Annual  Conference 
to  elect  the  presiding  elders  and  thereby  transfers  the  execu- 
tive authority  from  the  General  Superintendents  to  the  An- 
nual   Conferences   and   leaves  the   bishops   divested   of   their 


l82  Life  of  William  McKendree. 

power  to  oversee  the  business  under  the  full  responsibiHty  of 
General  Superintendents.  I  extremely  regret  that  you  have, 
by  this  measure,  reduced  me  to  the  painful  necessity  of  pro- 
nouncing the  resolution  unconstitutional  and  therefore  des- 
titute of  the  proper  authority  of  the  Church. 

While  I  am  firmly  bound,  by  virtue  of  my  office,  to  see 
that  all  the  rules  are  properly  enforced,  I  am  equally  bound 
to  prevent  the  imposition  of  that  which  is  not  properly  rule. 
Under  the  influence  of  this  sentiment  and  considering  the 
importance  of  the  subject  I  enter  this  protest. 

If  the  delegated  Conference  has  a  right  in  one  case  to 
impose  rules  contrary  to  the  Constitution,  which  binds  hun- 
dreds of  preachers  and  thousands  of  members  in  Christian 
fellowship,  and  on  which  their  own  existence  and  the  validity 
of  their  acts  depend,  why  may  not  the  same  right  exist  in 
another?  Why  not  in  all  cases?  If  the  right  of  infringing 
the  Constitution  is  admitted,  what  will  secure  the  rights  and 
privileges  of  preachers  and  people,  together  with  the  friends 
of  the  Church?  If  the  Constitution  cannot  protect  the  exec- 
utive authority,  in  vain  may  the  moneyed  institutions  and 
individual  rights  call  for  help  from  that  source. 

Believing  as  I  do  that  this  resolution  is  unauthorized  by 
the  Constitution  and  therefore  not  to  be  regarded  as  a  rule  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  I  consider  myself  under  no 
obligation  to  enforce  or  to  enjoin  it  on  others  to  do  so. 

I  present  this  as  the  expression  of  my  attachment  to  the 
Constitution  and  government  of  the  Church  and  of  my  sincere 
desire  to  preserve  the  rights  and  privileges  of  the  whole  body. 

Your  worn-down  and  afflicted  friend,      W.  jMcKendree. 

As  Soule  had  been  put  into  the  hands  of  the  bishops 
for  ordination,  they  made  ready,  though  without  his 
knowledge,  to  proceed  with  the  ceremony.  This  fact 
becoming  known  or  suspected,  it  stirred  up  a  good  deal 
of  feeling.  At  3  p.m.  Tuesday,  May  23,  a  resolution 
was  brought  forward  by  D.  Ostrander  and  James 
Smith,  the  object  of  which  was  to  arrest  any  present 


Defending  the  ConsMtution.  183 

action  on  the  part  of  the  bishops — if  not,  indeed,  to 
make  it  impossible  that  Soule  should  be  ordained  at 
all.    The  resolution  was  as  follows : 

Whereas  Brother  Joshua  Soule,  bishop  elect,  has'  signified 
in  his  letter  to  the  Episcopacy,  which  letter  was  read  in  the 
open  Conference,  that  if  he  be  ordained  bishop  he  will  not 
feel  himself  bound  to  be  governed  by  a  certain  resolution  of 
this  General  Conference  relative  to  the  nomination  and  elec- 
tion of  presiding  elders ;  therefore 

Resolved,  That  the  bishops  be  earnestly  requested  by  this 
Conference  to  defer  or  postpone  the  ordination  of  the  said 
Brother  Soule  until  he  gives  satisfactory  explanations  to  this 
Conference. 

This  resolution  led  to  considerable  discussion.  A 
motion  was  finally  made  to  postpone  it  indefinitely; 
and  when  it  became  evident  that  this  motion  would  pre- 
vail, the  resolution  was  withdrawn.  So  the  day  closed. 
On  Wednesday  morning.  May  25,  at  Soule's  own  re- 
quest, Bishop  George  announced  that  the  bishops  had 
postponed  the  ordination  to  a  future  period;  but  on 
Thursday  morning,  without  consulting  Soule,  he  an- 
nounced that  it  would  take  place  at  noon  of  that  day. 
Soule  at  once  arose  and  read  a  communication  resign- 
ing the  office  to  which  he  had  been  elected.  At  the 
afternoon  session  S.  G.  Roszell  and  S.  K.  Hodges 
moved  "that  Bishop  Soule  be  and  is  hereby  requested 
to  withdraw  his  resignation  and  comply  with  the  wishes 
of  his  brethren  in  submitting  to  ordination" ;  and  this 
motion  prevailed,  forty-nine  ayes,  the  nays  not  re- 
corded. But  Soule's  mind  was  made  up.  He  once 
more  stated  his  purpose,  and  there  the  matter  ended. 
The  Conference,  so  Bishop  McKendree  says,  took  no 
further  vote  on  the  subject. 


184  Life  of  William  McKendree. 

On  Friday  morning,  May  27th,  William  Capers  and 
Joshua  Wells  moved  that  "we  immediately  proceed  to 
elect  another  General  Superintendent."  But  Nathan 
Bangs  and  twenty-nine  others,  knowing  that  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  would  again  elect  Soule,  had  already 
filed  a  written  protest  with  the  bishops  against  any 
further  elections,  saying,  what  w^as  probably  true,  that 
any  man  chosen  under  the  existing  circumstances 
would  take  up  the  office  under  grave  disabilities. 
When  the  existence  of  this  protest  became  known,  the 
motion  was  withdrawn. 

The  Conference,  on  the  26th  inst.,  did  a  thing  which 
showed  a  significant  reaction.  By  a  majority  vote  it 
suspended  for  four  years  the  operation  of  the  resolu- 
tions concerning  the  election  of  the  presiding  elders 
and  left  matters  just  where  they  had  been  from  the 
beginning — this  very  much  to  the  satisfaction  of  Mc- 
Kendree and  Soule.  They  were  both  opposed,  on 
every  ground,  to  an  elective  presiding  eldership,  for 
they  saw  that  it  would  introduce  an  incessant  element 
of  turmoil  and  confusion  into  the  Annual  Conferences. 
They  were  likewise  opposed  to  making  the  elders  a 
legal  council,  with  power  to  control  the  appointments ; 
for  they  could  not  help  realizing  that  this  change  would 
take  authority  from  the  hands  of  the  only  men  whom 
the  General  Conference  could  hold  directly  responsible 
for  their  administration,  and  put  it  into  the  hands  of 
men  responsible  only  to  the  Annual  Conference,  and 
would  thus  inevitably  break  up  the  unity  and  connec- 
tionalism  of  the  Church.  The  man  who  does  not  see 
all  this  is  blind. 

But  neither  McKendree  nor  Soule  would  have  felt 


Defending  the  Con>stitution.  185 

warranted  in  refusing  to  submit  to  the  resolutions 
simply  because  they  were  injudicious  or  unwise.  Their 
attitude  was  that  these  resolutions  were  unconstitu- 
tional; and  they  were  certainly  correct  in  this  conten- 
tion, for  it  is  as  clear  as  daylight  that  the  appointing 
power  was,  and  was  understood  to  be,  by  the  ordain- 
ing General  Conference  of  1808,  an  essential  feature 
of  that  itinerant  general  superintendency  which  is  pro- 
tected by  the  third  Restrictive  Rule.  The  Church  can 
take  away  this  power  if  it  should  think  best,  but  it  can 
do  so  only  by  first  altering  the  Restrictive  Rule.  Any 
attempt  to  do  it  by  a  short  cut  is  lawless.  If,  more- 
over, the  Constitution  may  be  invaded  at  one  point, 
there  is  no  reason  why  it  should  not  be  disregarded  at 
every  point.  The  only  possible  protection  of  the  rights 
and  interests  of  the  Church  is  in  a  rigid  adherence  to 
its  terms  and  provisions.  It  was  because  these  two 
great  men  had  a  full  understanding  of  the  value  of 
things  fundamental  and  organic  that  they  maintained 
so  strong  a  front  against  what  was  really  revolutionary 
in  character.  To  charge  them  with  having  been  ani- 
mated by  any  vulgar  desire  for  personal  advantage  is 
to  show  an  utter  incapacity  for  reading  their  minds. 

McKendree  believed  that  the  Annual  Conferences, 
or  the  body  of  elders  comprised  in  them,  were  the  only 
final  judges  of  the  constitutionality  of  any  legislation. 
On  mature  reflection,  therefore,  he  proceeded  during 
the  next  four  years  to  lay  before  these  Conferences 
the  question  of  the  constitutionality  of  the  "Suspended 
Resolutions,"  and  seven  of  them  out  of  twelve  declared 
them  to  be  violative  of  the  third  Restrictive  Rule.  As 
showing,  however,  a  spirit  of  conciliation,  they  agreed, 


1 86  Life  of  IVilliam  McKcndree, 

at  McKendree's  instance,  to  vote  an  amendment  to 
the  rule  in  question,  and  thus  legally  open  the  way 
for  the  proposed  legislation.  If  the  other  five  Con- 
ferences had  taken  the  same  course,  they  would  have 
thus  secured  their  object.  But  they  were  unwilling  to 
admit  the  existing  incapacity  of  the  General  Confer- 
ence to  do  what  they  wished  to  be  done  and  refused 
to  take  any  action  whatever,  thus  in  the  end,  and  per- 
haps providentially,  defeating  their  own  purpose. 

It  need  scarcely  be  said  that  these  four  years  were 
not  an  easy  time  to  McKendree.  His  position  had 
aroused  a  good  deal  of  feeling  against  him.  If  he 
was  not  assailed  so  viciously  as  Soule,  it  was  because 
his  standing  in  the  Church  protected  him  against  it. 
Even  as  it  was,  he  did  not  escape  criticism.  The 
leaders  who  had  been  defeated  largely  through  his 
agency,  good  men  as  they  doubtless  were,  were  smart- 
ing under  the  fact  and  getting  ready  to  renew  the 
struggle.  He  would  have  been  something  more  or  less 
than  human  if  he  had  not  suffered  severely  in  passing 
through  such  an  ordeal.  An  entry  in  his  journal  un- 
covers his  heart : 

Until  that  time  I  had,  so  far  as  I  know,  the  confidence  and 
affection  of  the  preachers  generally,  but  after  that  I  had  to 
feel  the  effects  of  an  astonishing  change.  Old  friends  met  me 
with  cool  indifference  or  with  retiring,  forbidding  reserve 
and  sometimes  even  with  rudeness.  My  best-intended  move- 
ments were  misconstrued,  sometimes  converted  into  faults  or 
magnified  to  my  disadvantage  and  to  the  injury  of  the  cause 
which  we  were  mutually  bound  to  support.  In  the  furnace 
of  affliction  I  discovered  my  own  imperfections  as  well  as 
those  of  my  brethren — saw  wherein  I  might  have  acted  more 
wisely  and  prudently  in  many  cases — and  that  some  of  our 
afflictions  might  have  been  prevented  and  the  same  end  ob- 


Defending  the  Constitution.  187 

tained  by  a  course  a  little  different  and  therefore  better  be- 
cause less  liable  to  misrepresentations. 

That  is  noble.  Only  a  Christian  man  of  the  highest 
type  could  have  written  it. 

Notwithstanding  his  release  by  the  General  Confer- 
ence from  the  burden  of  active  work,  McKendree  con- 
tinued for  the  first  three  years  of  the  quadrennium  to 
travel  through  the  Church  and  as  far  as  he  possibly 
could  to  assist  his  colleagues  in  holding  the  Confer- 
ences. No  one  reading  his  journal  casually  would  in- 
fer that  he  was  a  confirmed  invalid.  His  sense  of  duty 
was  such  that  he  could  not  sit  down  and  hold  his  hands 
as  long  as  he  was  able  to  perform  any  labor.  Another 
quotation  from  his  journal  is  a  better  disclosure  of 
his  character  than  any  comment  from  the  pen  of  a 
biographer  could  possibly  be: 

I  pursued  my  course  as  well  as  I  could  until  the  fall  pre- 
ceding the  General  Conference  of  1824,  when,  observing  the 
methods  adopted  by  some  and  thinking  that  I  could  not  attend 
Annual  Conferences  without  interfering  with  their  measures, 
or  at  least  seeming  to  interfere  with  the  election  of  delegates 
to  the  ensuing  General  Conference,  which  I  deemed  deroga- 
tory to  my  station,  therefore,  notwithstanding  the  fate  of  our 
controversy  depended  on  the  representatives  to  be  chosen  at 
the  three  following  Conferences,  I  committed  the  cause  to 
God  and  went  no  farther  than  to  the  Tennessee  Conference. 

Here  again  the  intrinsic  greatness  of  his  character  is 
disclosed.  ^luch  concerned  as  he  was  about  the  out- 
come of  the  matters  that  were  agitating  the  mind  of 
the  Church,  he  would  not  seem  to  resort  to  anything 
that  even  looked  like  personal  scheming  or  intrigue 
to  carry  his  points. 

McKendree  went  up  from  Nashville  to  the  General 


1 88  Life  of  IVilliam  McKendrce. 

Conference  of  1824  in  company  with  young  Robert 
Paine,  who  had  been  chosen  a  delegate  as  early  as  the 
law  allowed  by  the  Tennessee  Conference.  The  ac- 
count of  the  journey  as  published  in  Volume  II.  of  the 
''Life  of  McKendree"  is  so  uncommonly  well  written 
and  so  full  of  noteworthy  incidents  that  there  is  a 
strong  temptation  to  make  copious  quotations  from  it, 
but  space  forbids.  Sufficient  to  say  that  they  started 
on  March  10  and  reached  Baltimore  on  April  28.  The 
Bishop  was  desperately  weak,  but  able  to  take  the  chair 
and  open  the  session. 

Contrary  to  a  very  general  expectation,  the  General 
Conference  turned  out  to  be  by  a  small  majority  in 
sympathy  with  the  position  of  McKendree  and  Soule. 
The  Baltimore  Conference  had  contributed  to  this  re- 
sult by  dropping  John  Emory,  who  favored  the  Sus- 
pended Resolutions,  from  its  delegation  and  putting 
Soule,  who  was  now  by  transfer  a  member  of  that 
body,  in  his  place.  The  following  preamble  and  reso- 
lution, which  were  adopted  after  consideration  by  a 
vote  of  sixty-three  to  sixty-one,  tell  the  story : 

Whereas  a  majority  of  the  Annual  Conferences  have 
judged  the  resolutions  making  presiding  elders  elective  and 
which  were  passed  and  then  suspended  at  the  last  General 
Conference  unconstitutional ;  therefore 

Resolved,  That  the  said  resolutions  are  not  of  authority 
and  shall  not  be  carried  into  effect. 

But  the  Conference  was  so  evenly  divided  that,  to 
avoid  giving  needless  offense,  it  was  agreed  that  the 
resolutions  should  again  be  carried  over  till  1828  as 
unfinished  business. 

The  Committee  on  Episcopacy  having  reported  that 


Defending  the  Constitution.  189 

it  was  expedient  to  elect  two  new  bishops,  the  report 
was  adopted  by  the  Conference,  though  some  (hs- 
sented;  and  on  May  26  Joshua  Soule  and  Ehjah  Red- 
ding, two  of  the  strongest  men  in  the  Church,  were 
chosen.  Rarely  ever  has  the  voting  been  closer.  On 
the  first  ballot  there  were  128  votes,  of  which  Joshua 
Soule  had  64,  William  Beauchamp  62,  Elijah  Red- 
ding 61,  and  John  Emory  59.  On  the  second  ballot 
Soule  had  65,  a  bare  majority,  Hedding  64,  Beau- 
champ  62,  and  Emory  58.  Before  the  next  ballot 
Emory  withdrew  his  name,  and  Hedding  had  66  and 
Beauchamp  60. 

Of  Soule  a  sufficient  sketch  has  already  been  given 
in  a  preceding  chapter.  Hedding  was  a  native  of 
Dutchess  County,  N.  Y.,  born  June  7,  1780,  and  was 
converted  December  27,  1798.  Being  soon  afterwards 
licensed,  first  to  exhort  and  then  to  preach,  he  was 
used  as  a  supply  on  three  separate  circuits.  In  1801 
he  was  received  on  probation  into  the  New  York  Con- 
ference. For  eight  years  he  traveled  immense  circuits 
in  Northern  New  York  and  New  England.  It  is 
doubtful  whether  any  Methodist  preacher  ever  had  a 
harder  novitiate.  But  he  stood  the  test  nobly.  Then 
for  four  years  he  was  a  presiding  elder,  in  which  of- 
fice he  exhibited  a  balanced  sagacity  of  judgment  and 
an  evangelistic  zeal  that  but  few  of  his  contemporaries 
equaled.  After  that,  till  his  elevation  to  the  episco- 
pacy, he  spent  the  most  of  his  time  in  Boston,  Nan- 
tucket, Lynn,  Portland,  and  New  London.  Four 
times  he  was  chosen  a  delegate  to  the  General  Confer- 
ence. His  promotion  was  the  result  of  solid  and  en- 
during qualities  of  character.    Electing  him  bishop  was 


190  Life  of  William  McKendrce. 

making  no  experiment.  lie  was  equal  to  the  office 
from  the  beginning.  The  writer  of  these  hnes  has 
often  heard  the  late  Bishop  H.  N.  McTyeire,  himself 
a  very  great  bishop,  speak  in  terms  of  the  highest  ad- 
miration of  Hedding's  services  to  the  Church.  The 
policy  that  kept  him  confined  for  the  greater  part  of 
his  episcopacy  to  the  extreme  eastern  and  northern 
part  of  the  country  was  not  judicious.  If  he  had 
ranged  more  widely,  it  would  have  been  better  for 
him  and  for  the  Connection. 

"William  Beauchamp,  who  came  so  nearly  being 
chosen,  is  scarcely  known  to  the  Church  of  the  present 
day  even  by  name.  Yet  he  was  unquestionably  one  of 
the  ablest  ministers  of  his  time.  Born  in  Kent  County, 
Del.,  April  21,  1772,  and  converted  about  1787  in 
Wood  County,  Va.,  whither  his  father  had  removed 
some  years  before,  he  began  to  preach  in  1791.  Two 
years  later  he  entered  the  itinerancy,  traveling  first  as 
a  supply  under  the  presiding  elder.  Having  served 
large  circuits  for  about  six  years,  he  was  then  stationed 
in  New  York,  Boston,  Provincetown,  and  Nantucket. 
In  1801  he  located  and  removed  to  Mrginia  and  thence 
in  181 5  to  Chillicothe,  Ohio,  where  he  became  editor 
of  the  Western  Christian  Monitor  and  also  preached 
with  great  acceptability  in  all  the  region  round  about. 
From  that  place  in  1817  he  went  still  farther  West,  to 
Mt.  Carmel,  111.,  and  engaged  in  helping  to  found  a 
new  community.  In  1822  he  w^as  readmitted  into  the 
St.  Louis  Conference,  and  was  in  1823  elected  to  the 
next  General  Conference.  His  death  occurred  October 
7,  1824,  in  Paoli,  Ind.  Besides  his  other  work,  he  pub- 
lished a  valuable  volume  entitled  "Essavs  on  the  Truth 


Defending  the  Constitution.  191 

of  Christianity."  He  was  called  the  "Demosthenes  of 
the  West"  and  would  have  undoubtedly  been  advanced 
to  the  episcopacy  but  for  the  fact  that  so  many  of  his 
years  were  spent  in  the  local  ministry.  Of  John  Emory 
something  will  be  said  later  on. 

Upper  Canada,  which  had  theretofore  been  divided 
between  the  New  England  and  the  Genesee  Con- 
ferences, was  now  by  its  own  request  set  up  as  a  sep- 
arate Conference.  It  is  just  as  well  to  say  here  as 
later  that  five  delegates  were  in  their  seats  from  that 
Conference  at  Pittsburg  four  years  later,  representing 
9,678  members  and  very  valuable  Church  property.  It 
had  become  entirely  evident  to  them  in  the  meantime 
that  their  progress  was  much  hindered  by  the  fact  of 
their  connection  with  a  Church  lying  chiefly  within  a 
foreign  country,  and  they  made  a  solemn  appeal  for 
a  peaceable  and  brotherly  separation.  In  response  to 
that  appeal  they  were  authorized  to  form  themselves 
into  a  separate  Church,  and  provision  was  made  for 
transferring  to  them  their  proportional  interest  in  the 
Book  Concern  and  Chartered  Fund.  The  bishops  were 
further  instructed  to  ordain  as  bishop  for  them  any 
one  whom  they  should  elect  and  present.  In  the  fall 
of  1828  Bishop  Hedding  held  their  Conference,  as- 
sisted them  in  completing  their  organization,  and  gave 
them  his  final  blessing. 

The  fine-spun  theory  put  forward  to  justify  this 
division  without  justifying  later  divisions,  that  the 
missionaries  who  went  to  Canada  went  as  volunteers 
and  therefore  had  a  right  to  quit  at  any  time,  being 
under  a  terminable  contract  or  compact  with  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  was  not  at  all  necessary. 
13 


192  Life  of  JVilliam  McKcndrce, 

That  such  men  as  John  Emory  and  even  Robert  Paine 

sliould  have  laid  the  groundwork  for  it  is  most  sur- 
prising. The  outstanding  fact  is  that  the  General 
Conference  which  withdrew  its  jurisdiction  from 
Lower  Canada  in  181 6  withdrew  it  in  the  same  man- 
ner from  Upper  Canada  in  1820. 

The  violent  agitation  of  any  single  important  ques- 
tion in  Church  or  State  is  sure  to  involve,  sooner  or 
later,  the  agitation  of  all  related  questions.  Out  of  the 
hot  discussion  concerning  an  elective  presiding  elder- 
ship there  arose  by  a  natural  process  the  consideration 
of  the  status  of  local  preachers  and  of  lay  members. 
All  these  matters  were  handled  with  great  vigor  in  a 
paper  called  Mutual  Rights,  which  was  established  at 
Baltimore  for  the  purpose  of  giving  expression  to  the 
most  radical  views.  ''In  its  pages  inflammatory  articles 
were  published  and  severe  attacks  were  made  upon  the 
economy  of  the  Church.  The  English  system  was  rep- 
resented as  superior  to  the  American,  and  it  was 
claimed  that  the  excitement  was  sweeping  over  the 
Church."  This  claim  had  some  foundation  in  fact. 
From  1824  to  1828  the  agitation  was  kept  up  at  fever 
heat.  Nicholas  Snethen,  who  had  once  been  the  de- 
fender of  the  Church  and  of  Asbury  against  James 
O'Kelley,  now  became  the  file  leader  of  the  radicals. 
Thomas  E.  Bond,  Sr.,  M.D.,  a  local  preacher  of  great 
influence  and  a  writer  of  tremendous  force,  took  up 
the  cudgels  against  him. 

What  were  called  ''Union  Societies"  were  also  or- 
ganized in  many  places,  and  included  all  those  who  de- 
sired to  maintain  and  propagate  the  so-called  reform. 
It  was  perfectly  natural  that  Baltimore   City,  which 


Defending  the  Constitution.  193 

had  heard  so  much  of  the  tyranny  of  the  bishops  and 
their  creatures,  the  appointed  presiding  elders,  should 
become  the  center  and  stronghold  of  the  dissatisfied  ele- 
ments. In  1827  a  convention  of  representatives  from 
different  sections  of  the  country,  all  of  whom  were  in 
antagonism  to  episcopacy  and  to  many  other  features 
of  the  Church  polity,  met  there  to  take  counsel  with 
one  another.  This  convention  was  in  no  amiable  mood. 
Before  it  adjourned  it  had  laid  down  the  platform  of 
principles  which  virtually  meant  revolution.  There 
then  followed  a  flood  of  petitions,  memorials,  and  ap- 
peals to  the  next  General  Conference,  which  convened 
at  Pittsburg  in  May,  1828,  demanding  that  the  Dis- 
cipline should  be  subjected  to  a  thoroughgoing  revision 
on  all  the  points  In  dispute  and  threatening  secession 
if  the  demands  were  not  granted.  But  a  reaction  had 
set  in  in  many  quarters,  and  it  was  reasonably  certain 
that  not  only  the  most  extreme  demands  would  not 
be  granted,  but  that  even  moderate  concessions  would 
now  be  withheld.  Nothing  can  be  more  stubborn  than 
an  aroused  conservatism. 

Bishop  McTyeire  sums  up  the  whole  case  most  ad- 
mirably as  follows : 

The  temper  on  both  sides  in  the  greatly  widened  contro- 
versy was  unfavorable  to  concession.  The  reformers  were 
aggressive  and  hopeful  for  several  reasons.  They  believed 
their  cause  just;  it  was  favored  by  the  political  tendency 
of  the  country;  an  envious  element  of  sectarianism  which 
once  existed  in  other  denominations  was  ever  ready  to 
humble  Methodism  and  was  forward  and  loud  to  encourage 
disaffection ;  but  chiefly  they  miscalculated  as  to  the  final 
adhesion  of  men  who  had,  at  one  time  or  other,  expressed 
views   in   sympathy   with  their  own.     Even   Bascom   uttered 


194  ^^f^  of  William  McKcndrcc, 

some  sentiments  in  the  heyday  of  his  blood  which  were  not 
in  harmony  with  his  maturer  life  as  one  of  the  strongest, 
steadiest,  and  most  trusted  leaders  of  Episcopal  Methodism 
the  Church  has  ever  had.  Hedding  leaned  that  way  once  on 
the  original  question,  also  Bangs  and  Waugh.  Emory  criti- 
cized and  antagonized  Bishop  McKendree  and  Joshua  Soule 
for  the  prompt,  resolute  means  they  used  to  save  the  constitu- 
tion. Bishop  George,  in  judicial  weakness,  and  Bishop  Rob- 
erts, by  amiable  irresolution,  in  the  primary  movement  let  the 
ship  drive.  But  now,  when  the  radical  tendencies  of  these 
things  were  seen,  the  conservatives  closed  ranks  and  stood 
firm.  The  report  of  the  General  Conference  of  1828,  made 
by  John  Emory,  was  kind,  strong,  and  conclusive  and  put  an 
end  to  the  hopes  of  the  reformers,  who  proceeded  to  the 
organization  of  the  Methodist  Protestant  Church.  Some  who 
originally  favored  modifications,  so  soon  as  the  proposed 
measures,  which  lay  at  the  bottom,  had  been  declared  uncon- 
stitutional, declined  further  agitation.  Methodism  had  been 
demonstrated  a  most  efficient  plan  for  spreading  the  gospel. 
Practically,  it  had  never  oppressed  them.  If  any  were  op- 
pressed, it  was  the  class  who  did  not  complain  but  were 
complained  against — the  itinerant  preachers.  Thoughtful  men 
must  not  be  counted  on  to  join  in  a  theoretical  and  destructive 
reform  because  every  pin  and  screen  in  the  tabernacle  that 
has  sheltered  them  is  not  exactly  to  their  notion.  Unfortu- 
nately, a  reform  which  began  in  principles  drifted  largely  into 
personalities.  "The  most  ungracious  assault,"  says  a  writer 
well  informed  in  the  literature  of  that  day,  "was  that  which 
was  made  upon  Bishop  George.  Such,  generally,  is  the  lot 
of  those  who,  while  favoring  partial  charges,  adhere  to  the 
vital  principles  of  an  organization.  They  must  either  go  with 
the  reformers  to  the  point  of  destruction  or  be  regarded  as 
traitors  to  their  interests." 

The  extreme  reformers  had  ^one  too  far  to  draw 
back.     On  November  2,  1830,  they  met  once  more  in 

Baltimore,  formed  a  discipline  and  constitution,  and 

5 


Defending  the  Constitution.  195 

organized  the  Methodist  Protestant  Church,  which  has 
had  an  honorable  history. 

Its  ministry  and  press  have  never  been  without  strong  men, 
and  its  membership  has  been  generous.  Its  pohty  is  marked 
by  an  extreme  jealousy  of  power  which  is  lodged  nowhere, 
but  distributed ;  and  there  are  guards,  balances,  and  checks. 
A  brake  on  the  wheels  of  a  railroad  train  is  a  good  thing  to 
keep  it  from  going  too  fast,  but  a  railroad  train  constructed 
on  the  principle  of  a  brake  will  not  go  at  all.  This  honor 
justly  belongs  to  the  Methodist  Protestant  Church.  Its  one 
good,  peculiar  principle — lay  delegation — has  in  late  years 
been  incorporated  into  the  chief  Methodist  bodies  of  Europe 
and  America. 

At  the  General  Conference  of  1824  Dr.  Richard 
Reece  and  the  Rev.  John  Hannah  appeared  as  the 
first  formal  fraternal  delegates  from  the  British  Wes- 
leyan  Conference  and  were  most  gladly  welcomed. 
The  bishops  were  instructed  to  nominate  some  minis- 
ter to  return  the  visit,  but  failed  to  do  so  because  they 
could  not  agree  on  a  man.  McKendree  and  Soule 
nominated  William  Capers ;  Hedding  and  George  in- 
sisted on  Wilbur  Fisk.  Roberts  refused  to  cast  the 
deciding  vote.  Capers  was  at  that  time  the  older  and 
better  known  of  the  two  men.  His  character  was 
without  a  flaw.  His  gifts  on  the  platform,  in  the  pul- 
pit, and  in  the  social  circle  were  equal  to  those  of  any 
man  in  the  Church.  His  crowning  glory  lay  in  the 
fact  that  he  had  led  the  way  in  the  establishment  and 
maintenance  of  missions  among  the  Indians  and  the 
negroes.  Yet  the  bare  fact  that  by  inheritance  and 
necessity  he  was  a  slave  holder  was  held  by  Hedding 
and  George  to  be  a  sufificient  bar  to  his  appointment. 
The  General  Conference  of  1828  took  a  different  view 


196  Life  of  William  McKendree, 

of  the  case  and  by  a  vote  of  seventy-two  to  sixty-two 
designated  him  for  the  place.  The  manner  in  which  he 
discharged  the  duties  of  the  mission  was  wholly  cred- 
itable to  himself  and  perfectly  satisfactory  to  the 
British  Conference.  Fisk,  of  course,  was  worthy  of 
any  honor,  and  the  fact  that  he  received  sixty-two  votes 
on  this  occasion  showed  how  high  he  already  stood  in 
the  minds  of  his  brethren. 


CHAPTER  XV. 
Nearing  Port. 

It  is  not  worth  while  to  follow  McKendree  farther 
into  the  minute  details  of  his  Hfe.  All  his  great  public 
activities  are  ended.  Nothing  more  that  we  could  learn 
about  him  would  essentially  alter  our  estimate  of  his 
character.  But  it  is,  nevertheless,  pleasant  to  mark 
the  close  of  his  career  in  a  general  way  and  to  see 
with  what  a  high  and  resolute  spirit  he  kept  right  on 
to  the  end. 

Leaving  Pittsburgh  on  a  steamboat  immediately  after 
the  close  of  the  General  Conference  of  1828,  he  went 
down  the  Ohio  River  to  Maysville,  Ky.,  and  from  that 
place,  preaching  and  praying  along  his  route,  he  turned 
south  to  Tennessee,  getting  to  his  brother's  home  in 
the  early  autumn.  Everybody,  except  the  few  who 
were  very  intimate  with  him,  expected  him  now  to 
cease  his  labors.  He  had  richly  earned  the  right  to 
rest.  The  Church  exacted  nothing  further  from  him 
and,  indeed,  preferred  that  he  should  enter  into  his  re- 
treat and  make  himself  easy  for  the  remainder  of  his 
pilgrim  days.  But  he  was  not  looking  for  rest  this  side 
the  river.  In  the  course  of  the  fall  he  attended  sev- 
eral camp  meetings  near  Nashville  and  astonished 
everybody  by  the  vigor  of  his  utterance.  Bishop  Paine 
says: 

At  Douglass  Camp  Meeting  there  was  an  immense  con- 
course, and  the  Bishop  preached  for  me  at  eleven  o'clock  to 
at  least  six  thousand  people;  and  although  his  voice  seemed 

(197) 


198  Life  of  William  McKendrec. 

feeble,  yet  it  was  so  distinct  and  penetrating,  and  so  perfectly 
silent  was  the  vast  crowd,  that  after  the  first  five  minutes  he 
could  be  heard  by  all. 

Before  the  winter  had  fairly  set  in  he  was  off  for 
Georgia,  had  a  perilous  ride  across  Lookout  Moun- 
tain, and  preached  several  times  before  the  Grand 
Council  of  the  Cherokee  Indians,  in  whose  welfare  he 
had  always  been  profoundly  concerned  and  among 
whom  he  had  "always  been  kindly  received  and 
treated."  Farther  along  the  road  he  passed  through 
Athens,  Greensboro,  and  Lexington,  stopping  long 
enotigh  for  a  sermon  or  sermons  at  each  place.  When 
he  got  to  Eatonton  he  was  desperately  sick.  The  doc- 
tors, according  to  the  horrible  practice  of  the  times, 
took  a  pint  of  blood  from  him  and  two  hours  later  an- 
other pint.  The  next  morning,  though  feeling  quite 
unable  to  stand  up  in  the  pulpit,  he  preached  an  hour. 
At  ^lilledgeville  he  met  and  ordained  Stephen  Olin, 
then  and  for  several  years  afterwards  a  professor  in 
Franklin  College,  an  institution  of  the  State.  By  the 
first  of  the  year  he  was  at  Savannah  to  meet  the  Geor- 
gia Conference,  and,  finding  that  Bishop  Roberts,  who 
had  been  designated  to  preside,  had  not  arrived,  lie 
undertook  to  supply  the  vacancy ;  but  on  the  opening 
day,  for  the  first  time  in  his  history,  he  became  con- 
fused in  the  chair  and  occupied  it  no  more, 

From  Savannah  he  moved  on  to  Charleston,  Raleigh, 
Richmond,  Norfolk,  Washington,  Baltimore,  Philadel- 
phia, and  New  York,  finally  going  back  home  by  the 
Ohio  and  Kentucky  route.  This  long  sweep  took  him 
to  six  Annual  Conferences,  at  every  one  of  which  his 
presence  was  a  recognized  benediction. 


N earing  Port,  199 

The  early  winter  of  1829-30  he  spent  in  and  about 
Nashville,  much  of  it  in  the  homes  of  his  long-time 
friends,  Joseph  T.  Elliston  and  H.  R.  W.  Hill.  But 
about  January  20,  taking  young  A.  L.  P.  Green,  after- 
wards famous  as  Dr.  Green,  for  a  traveling  companion, 
he  made  an  episcopal  visitation  to  the  far  South,  travel- 
ing for  the  most  part  on  the  steamboat  Nashville.  At 
Natchez  he  greatly  enjoyed  the  fellowship  of  Dr.  Henry 
Tooley,  William  Winans,  Benjamin  M.  Drake,  and 
others.  The  greater  part  of  the  time  was  spent  in 
New  Orleans,  where  the  Church  needed  his  influence 
and  counsel.  But  he  also  visited  Bayou  Sara  and 
Woodville,  in  which  latter  place  he  was  the  honored 
guest  of  Edward  McGeehee.  This  was  no  pleasure 
jaunt,  but  a  tour  of  close  inspection  and  of  active 
service.  When  he  could  he  preached,  and  when  he 
could  not  preach  he  made  pastoral  visits  more  vigor- 
ously than  many  a  young  itinerant  on  his  first  circuit. 
He  did  not  get  back  to  Nashville  till  April.  In  the  late 
summer  of  1830,  much  against  the  counsel  of  friends, 
he  ventured  on  one  more  circuit  of  the  Conferences 
and  went  as  far  east  as  to  the  Holston  at  Ebenezer, 
Greene  County,  Tenn.,  but  was  compelled  to  turn  back 
from  that  point,  more  dead  than  alive,  and  to  recross 
the  Cumberland  Mountains  in  midwinter.  At  last, 
convinced  that  he  must  no  longer  strain  himself,  he 
consented  to  be  nursed  during  the  rest  of  the  winter. 

When  the  spring  of  183 1  was  fairly  open,  being- 
recuperated  by  his  temporary  retirement,  he  went  forth 
through  Kentucky  and  Ohio,  passing  the  mountains 
in  the  fall  and  staying  most  of  the  winter  in  the  home 
of  Dr.  Henry  Wilkins,  in  Baltimore.    In  the  latter  part 


20O  Life  of  William  McKendree, 

of  March,  1832,  he  journeyed  from  Baltimore  to 
Philadelphia  to  be  received  with  open  arms  by  the  lov- 
ing household  of  Dr.  Thomas  Sargent.  For  the  first 
time  the  General  Conference,  on  May  i  of  that  year, 
gathered  in  the  Quaker  City.  Two  hundred  and 
twenty-three  delegates  from  twenty-three  Annual  Con- 
ferences were  present.  All  the  bishops  signed  the 
Episcopal  Address.  ^IcKendree  was  greatly  pleased 
with  it,  for  it  revealed  the  fact  that  the  Church,  for 
so  many  years  rent  and  torn  by  unbrotherly  strifes, 
was  again  at  peace  and  growing  with  unexampled 
rapidity.  Bishop  George  had  died  on  August  27^,  1828, 
and  ^IcKendree  was  invited  to  preach  a  funeral  ser- 
mon and  to  preside  at  the  ordination  of  the  bishops 
elect,  wdilch  he  did  in  an  appropriate  and  impressive 
manner  on  May  25. 

The  two  new  bishops  were  James  O.  Andrew  and 
John  Emory,  the  former  receiving  140  and  the  latter 
135  votes  out  of  a  total  of  222^.  Andrew  was  born  in 
Georgia,  the  son  of  John  Andrew,  who  was  the  first 
native  Georgian  to  enter  the  Itinerant  ministry.  The 
family  came  originally  from  New  England,  and  the 
Bishop  showed  in  many  ways  the  Puritan  strain  In  his 
blood.  Born  in  1794  and  converted  while  a  mere 
youth,  he  was  admitted  Into  the  South  Carolina  Con- 
ference In  181 2,  having  come  up  from  young  Lovick 
Pierce's  district.  His  education  was  exceedingly 
limited.  ''He  had  never  seen  the  world  nor  been  a 
day's  journey  from  home."  But  he  had  two  good 
qualities  to  his  credit,  strong  common  sense  and  In- 
tense piety.  Starting  on  the  Saltkahachie  Circuit,  he 
soon  showed  the  metal  that  was  In  him.     His  growth 


Nearing  Port.  201 

was  steady.  After  a  few  years  he  was  sent  in  suc- 
cession to  Charleston,  Wilmington,  Columbia,  and 
Augusta.  By  instinct  and  choice  he  was  a  pastor.  In 
his  prime  he  was  a  preacher  of  surpassing  eloquence. 
On  the  platform,  especially  when  advocating  the  cause 
of  missions,  he  was  without  a  peer.  His  social  gifts 
were  of  the  highest  order.  A  simple-minded,  warm- 
hearted, thoroughly  consecrated  minister  of  the  gos- 
pel, it  was  nothing  less  than  a  tragedy  that  he  should 
later  have  become  a  storm  center  in  the  Church  and 
should  have  been  traduced  and  slandered  beyond  meas- 
ure. The  eulogy  pronounced  upon  him  in  1844  by 
Stephen  Olin  is  more  than  an  offset  to  all  the  ill  things 
ever  said  against  him.  He  survived  till  1871  and 
died  as  he  had  lived,  a  stainless  and  holy  man. 

John  Emory  was  born  in  Queen  Anne  County,  Md-, 
in  1789,  of  wealthy  and  influential  parents.  He  re- 
ceived a  classical  education  and  was  admitted  to  the 
bar.  But  in  his  twenty-first  year  he  turned  his  back 
upon  the  honors  of  the  world  and  joined  the  Balti- 
more Conference,  much  to  his  father's  chagrin.  Bishop 
McTyeire  calls  him  "a  polished  shaft."  Almost  from 
the  beginning  he  was  eminent  and  influential  in  the 
Church.  As  city  pastor,  Book  Agent,  Secretary  of  the 
General  Conference,  and  delegate  to  the  British  Con- 
ference he  had  displayed  ability  and  tact.  As  early  as 
1824,  though  he  was  then  but  thirty-five  years  of  age, 
he  lacked  only  four  votes  of  being  made  a  bishop.  As 
a  progressive  conservative  he  did  not  hesitate  to  favor 
change  as  long  as  the  foundations  were  undisturbed. 
McKendree's  greeting  to  him  after  his  election  was: 
"Bishop  Emory,  John  Emory,  come  to  my  arms."     In 


202  Life  of  William  McKendree. 

1835  they  both  died,  one  in  the  fullness  of  his  years 
and  the  other  in  the  splendid  meridian  of  his  man- 
hood. How  inscrutable  are  the  ways  of  Providence ! 
It  was  believed  by  all  who  knew  Emory  that  if  he  had 
lived  twenty  years  he  would  have  left  his  impress 
upon  every  feature  of  Methodism.  His  end  was 
tragic.  Thrown  from  a  carriage  as  he  was  driving 
into  Baltimore,  he  was  found  unconscious  on  the  road- 
side and  never  recovered  the  power  of  thought  or 
speech.  The  whole  Church  put  on  the  robes  of  mourn- 
ing for  him. 

Unable  to  attend  the  sessions  of  the  General  Con- 
ference regularly,  McKendree  came  and  went  at  his 
will.  Everybody  treated  him  with  the  profoundest 
deference.  The  time  of  criticism  was  over.  His  last 
visit  to  the  Conference  was  made  the  day  before  ad- 
journment. Everybody  knew  that  he  would  never  face 
his  brethren  in  such  an  assemblage  again.  Dr.  Larra- 
bee  describes  the  scene  very  graphically : 

Leaning  on  his  staff,  his  once  tall  and  manly  form  now  bent 
with  infirmity,  his  eyes  suffused  with  tears,  faltering  with 
emotion,  he  exclaimed :  "Let  all  things  be  done  without  strife 
or  vainglory,  and  try  to  keep  the  unity  of  the  spirit  in  the 
bond  of  peace.  My  brethren  and  children,  love  one  another." 
Then,  spreading  forth  his  trembling  hands  and  raising  his 
eyes  to  heaven,  he  pronounced  in  faltering  and  affectionate 
accents  the  apostolic  benediction.  Slowly  and  sadly  he  left 
the  house  to  return  no  more.  Everybody  rose  and  stood  till 
he  had  departed. 

The  return  trip  from  Philadelphia  to  Tennessee  al- 
most completely  exhausted  Bishop  McKendree's  scanty 
reserve  of  physical  force ;  but  rest  and  kind  attentions 
revived  him  to  such  an  extent  that  he  was  able  to  move 


Nearing  Port.  203 

about  carefully  later  in  the  season,  to  attend  the  Ten- 
nessee Conference,  which  met  in  Pulaski  on  November 
7,  1833,  and,  in  the  absence  of  Bishop  Roberts,  to  pre- 
side and  make  the  appointments  with  the  help  of 
Robert  Paine  and  Lewis  Garrett,  whom  he  personally 
designated  as  his  helpers.  Twice  in  December  follow- 
ing he  preached  in  the  new  McKendree  Church,  at 
Nashville,  and  on  the  last  night  of  the  year  conducted 
a  watch-night  service  at  the  same  place.  Having  re- 
newed his  journal,  he  made  the  following  entry: 

It  was  a  solemn  time.  I  felt  my  spiritual  strength  re- 
newed. I  returned  with  Brother  Hill  and  his  family,  and  at 
four  o'clock  I  arose  refreshed. 

Mirahile  dictu,  the  next  day  at  ten  o'clock  he  took 
passage  on  the  palatial  steamer  Tennessee  for  one 
more — the  very  last — visit  to  his  friends  in  Mississippi 
and  Louisiana.  His  careful  habit  of  keeping  his  ac- 
counts he  still  maintained.  Arrived  at  Natchez,  he  says : 
"For  my  passage  I  paid  $20;  to  waiters  on  the  boat, 
$1.75;  to  porter,  50  cents;  for  riding  in  dirty  hack, 
$2.'*  He  preached  twice  on  the  boat,  twice  at  Natchez, 
and  as  often  as  possible  at  other  places.  Besides  his 
old  friends  Tooley  and  Winans  and  Drake  and  Mc- 
Geehee,  he  fell  in  with  such  young  men  as  Charles  K. 
Marshall  and  Francis  A.  Owen.  To  reach  McGeehee's 
he  traveled  thirty-five  awful  miles  in  a  carriage.  While 
there  he  thought  he  had  a  slight  stroke  of  paralysis. 
Could  it  have  been  senile  epilepsy?  Little  human 
things  appear  in  his  journal: 

January  28. — Excellent  coffee  every  morning  at  six  o'clock 
greatly  relieves  one  of  headache. 


204  -^'/^  of  William  McKcndrce, 

Blessings  on  the  memory  of  the  good  housewife  who 
furnished  it  to  him !  Nowhere  in  the  world  do  they 
make  it  better  than  in  that  low  country.  But  trifles 
like  these  apart,  the  wonder  remains  that  at  no  time 
of  his  life  did  the  Bishop  show  a  deeper  or  more  ra- 
tional concern  for  the  spread  of  religion  and  the  sta- 
bility and  growth  of  the  Church.  He  was  still  very 
much  alive  in  the  spirit.  It  was  about  May  I  when 
he  got  back  to  Nashville. 

For  the  rest  of  the  year  the  chronicle  runs  thin  and 
narrow.  A  delightful  incident  took  place  in  the  au- 
tumn at  the  Old  Salem  Camp  Ground,  in  Sumner 
County.  William  Burke,  his  fellow  soldier  of  other 
times,  was  present,  having  come  down  from  Ohio. 
For  three  successive  days  the  veterans  preached  time 
about.  In  the  intervals  they  spoke  of  the  old  memories 
and  dwelt  much  on  departed  friends.  It  was  a  feast 
of  love  to  them  both.  Tlie  Tennessee  Conference  met 
November  5  in  Lebanon.  Thither  McKendree  went 
up.  His  first  Conference  had  been  held  at  Bethlehem, 
in  that  same  county,  and  now  he  was  back,  in  the  prov- 
idence of  God,  where  he  had  begun.  The  circuit  was 
complete. 

Words  are  too  poor  to  describe  the  welcome  which 
he  received  from  his  brethren.  They  looked  on  him 
as  one  whose  conversation  was  in  heaven  and  whose 
stay  upon  the  earth  must  needs  be  brief.  Many  an 
alabaster  box  was  broken  and  the  contents  poured 
over  his  head.  If  he  had  needed  material  things,  they 
would  have  been  given  him.  But  as  he  had  no  lack 
of  these,  veneration  and  love  were  showered  on  him. 
Scarcely  hoping  that  he  would  be  able  to  do  it,  the 


Nearing  Port.  205 

Conference  asked  him  by  formal  vote  to  write  a  his- 
tory of  his  Hfe,  and  he  promised  to  do  the  best  he 
could.  But  it  was  too  late.  Among  all  his  papers, 
which  were  later  turned  over  to  Thomas  L.  Douglass 
and  Joshua  Soule,  not  a  line  of  biography  could  be 
found. 

The  Conference  closed  on  the  14th,  and  on  the  15th 
the  Bishop  reached  Nashville,  but  was  too  unwell  to 
attend  church  on  the  next  day.  During  the  week,  how- 
ever, and  at  the  urgent  solicitation  of  many  persons 
who  longed  to  hear  him  once  more,  he  consented  to 
occupy  the  pulpit  of  McKendree  Church  on  November 
2^.  A  great  audience  was  present  and  lingered  on  the 
words  of  his  lips.    That  was  his  last  sermon. 

For  about  a  month  he  lingered  at  Nashville,  sweet- 
ening and  sanctifying  all  the  homes  into  which  he 
entered.  As  the  holidays  drew  nigh,  he  became  anx- 
ious to  be  at  the  home  of  his  brother,  thirty  miles 
away.  The  presentiment  of  approaching  death  was 
on  him,  and  he  wished  to  spend  his  last  days  among 
his  very  own.  A  hanging  nail  on  one  of  his  fingers 
had  been  torn  out  and  became  infected  and  painful. 
Yet  he  finished  the  journey  by  Christmas  day.  Very 
soon  thereafter  he  took  to  bed  and  left  it  no  more 
till  the  end  came.  Loved  as  he  was  by  the  whole 
household,  he  was  specially  idolized  by  his  sister 
Nancy,  who,  like  himself,  had  never  married  and  who 
now  devoted  herself  to  his  comfort  with  unwearied 
fidelity,  sitting  by  his  side  day  and  night  and  tenderly 
noticing  his  smallest  want.  At  one  time  a  cloud 
seemed  to  come  over  his  mind,  but  that  soon  passed 
away.    On  March  i  he  said  to  his  nephew,  Dudley  Mc- 


2o6  Life  of  IVilliam  McKcndrce, 

Kendrcc,  who  leaned  over  him  to  receive  his  communi- 
cation :  **I  wish  that  matter  to  be  perfectly  understood 
that  all  is  well  with  me  whether  I  live  or  die.  For  two 
months  I  have  not  had  a  cloud  to  darken  my  sky.  I 
have  had  uninterrupted  confidence  in  my  Saviour's 
love."  Many  gracious  words  fell  from  his  lips.  To 
one  of  his  friends  he  said:  "Follow  me  as  I  have  fol- 
lowed Christ,  only  closer."  On  the  5th  the  struggle 
ended.  With  a  final  smile  he  entered  into  rest.  He 
was  buried  by  the  side  of  his  father  in  the  adjacent 
graveyard.  Forty  years  afterwards  his  remains  were 
taken  up  and,  with  those  of  Joshua  S'oule,  reinterred 
in  the  campus  of  Vanderbilt  University,  thus  hallow- 
ing the  ground,  as  the  resolutions  passed  by  the  Board 
of  Trust  said,  for  all  time. 

What  more  is  there  to  be  said?  If  the  foregoing 
pages  have  not  left  the  impression  that  William  Mc- 
Kendree  was  a  great  man,  a  great  Christian,  a  great 
bishop,  then  nothing  would  suffice  to  do  so.  The 
writer  of  this  little  volume  closes  his  task  by  praying 
that  out  of  his  reserves  of  power  God  may  call  and 
qualify  other  men  as  the  generations  go  by  to  carry 
on  the  good  succession  of  such  ministers. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS-URBANA 

8M1552H1916  cflDi 

WILLIAM  MCKENOREE  NASHVILLE 


■•■■■■;    ,;    I 


3  0112  025407955 


'I. 


i  ■U|ili|p|i|I 

4:;:j-::::;^i;;::''^|jpiiiii 

iiiiiii 


